NEW YORK: Rizk Ventures LLC is launching SpareBox Storage, a national self storage platform focusing on consolidating the highly fragmented and attractive self-storage market across the US, a news release said.

Rizk Ventures, a special situation operating and investment platform with a focus on real estate, technology and healthcare, owns and operates more than 10 million square feet of office, light industrial, flex and healthcare real estate across the US. Steve Treadwell, longtime industry executive most recently Chief Operating Officer at publicly traded REIT National Storage Affiliates (NSA) is the Chief Executive Officer.

In connection with the launch of the platform, SpareBox Storage disclosed that it has closed on its first acquisition in Amarillo, Texas. SpareBox acquired 10 stabilized self storage properties with 670,000 net rentable square feet and over 4,000 units with approximately 86% occupancy. All of the properties are in the attractive Amarillo demographic market and account for more than 25% of the total square footage in the Amarillo self storage market.

Tom Rizk, Chairman and Founder of Rizk Ventures and former CEO of Mack-Cali Realty, stated: “The self storage market has very strong fundamentals, a compelling growth profile and represents a great opportunity to create value and deliver the highest quality service to thousands of consumers and we are excited about adding the self storage platform to our real estate portfolio within Rizk Ventures. With approximately 50,000 stand-alone self storage facilities and approximately 30,000 smaller operators, we see a unique opportunity to acquire high-quality, well-located businesses that require operational improvements, technology and infrastructure investment and create a national platform at scale.

“Our thesis is clear: invest in suburban areas within secondary and tertiary markets, where the economics are strong, where demand is high, and today’s trends support the growth of the category. We were early in suburban office in identifying the dynamic demographic shifts occurring in markets across the country and believe the same trends will fuel our self storage platform. We are thrilled that someone of the caliber of Steve Treadwell is joining SpareBox as CEO. Our operating model is to recruit senior industry leaders to lead our businesses and Steve’s track record of growth, operational expertise and value creation at NSA speaks for itself. And with the acquisition facility backed by JP Morgan Chase Bank, NA we have the capability to rapidly deploy and move quickly.”

Steve Treadwell, CEO of SpareBox Storage said: “I’m very excited to join Tom in launching SpareBox Storage. Tom and his team have a deep understanding of the dynamics in play, and they have the ability to leverage their relationships in the capital markets to take advantage of the great opportunities present in the self storage sector today. The Rizk Ventures team have successfully built multiple national real estate brands, and they are the ideal partners to propel SpareBox forward in building a scalable, national self storage platform and creating value for our investors.

“Our Amarillo acquisition is a great way to launch our portfolio strategy: to build operational clusters of undervalued self storage assets in smaller markets or in the suburbs of larger markets. Our operational, technology, and marketing solutions will improve the customer experience and drive value growth for our portfolio. There are great opportunities in markets all across the country and we are currently involved in a number of discussions with other owner/operators to add quality properties to our portfolio.”

SpareBox Storage is a newly-launched self storage platform sponsored by Rizk Ventures and led by industry veteran Steve Treadwell. SpareBox Storage’s mission is to acquire and build a scalable, national self-storage company by focusing on clusters of undervalued assets in smaller markets or in the suburbs of larger markets, delivering operational, technology and marketing solutions.

Rizk Ventures is a special situation operating and investment platform with a focus on real estate, technology and healthcare. Rizk Ventures has built operating platforms in the real estate space across a number of sectors both in the United States, as well as Latin America. Founded by Thomas A. Rizk, former CEO of Mack-Cali Realty, the firm has over 30 years of experience in real estate and currently owns and operates commercial and healthcare properties across Pennsylvania, Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, and the country of Colombia, totaling over 10 million square feet.

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