A rendering of a 903-unit self-storage facility at 141 Route 206 in Hillsborough — Courtesy: The Hampshire Cos.
By Joshua Burd
The Hampshire Cos., Harrison Street and Circle Squared Alternative Investments have broken ground on a new self-storage facility in Hillsborough, their first project in New Jersey under a recently announced partnership.
Located at 141 Route 206, the project will deliver 903 climate-controlled self-storage units in an affluent, high-growth and supply-constrained market. Extra Space Storage will manage the 120,524-square-foot facility, which is slated for completion in February.
“The self-storage sector has seen a significant uptick in investment over the past several years as investors realize the relative stability of the asset class,” said Michael Legacki, senior acquisitions manager for Hampshire. “Hampshire’s decades of experience and expertise ensures we are able to find value in even the most competitive market conditions. We look forward to working with Harrison Street and Extra Space Storage to bring this project to completion and deliver an institutional quality asset to Somerset County.”
Hampshire, a Morristown-based real estate investment firm, announced earlier this year that it would partner with Harrison Street in a new self-storage platform along the Interstate 95 corridor. The joint venture’s first project, in Providence, Rhode Island, broke ground in February and is slated for completion by the end of this year.
The developers said they picked the Hillsborough site due to its high median household income, growing population density and a lack of modern self-storage options, as well as a prime location along one of the most heavily traveled retail corridors in the neighboring area.
“We are excited to continue our strategic programmatic partnership with Hampshire to develop institutional-quality, self-storage facilities in high-barrier-to-entry markets with favorable demographic characteristics,” said Mike Gordon, senior managing director at Harrison Street. “We are committed to identifying and investing in the self-storage sector and look forward to leveraging our deep investment expertise and strong industry partnerships to drive performance for our investors.”
Circle Squared is the investment adviser for the project.
“We chose to be involved due to our continued interest in expanding our involvement with self-storage, and the opportunity to work with Harrison Street and the Hampshire Cos.,” said Jeffrey Sica, chief investment officer for the Morristown-based firm. “We believe Hillsborough is a very attractive location for self-storage and was part of our draw. We are enthusiastic about the rapid progress that has been made.”
Hampshire has focused on high-end self-storage projects for decades, targeting underserved, high-barrier markets throughout the eastern U.S. Since 2012, the firm has repositioned or developed 33 self-storage facilities with an aggregate value of over $440 million.
It now has another three self-storage development projects currently underway comprising $239 million of investment and is targeting another 14 projects with an aggregate value of $243 million in the pipeline.
“By partnering with Harrison Street, we have ensured that Hampshire will continue to be well-positioned to aggressively pursue self-storage development in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” said James E. Hanson II, CEO and president of Hampshire. “We look forward to building upon the initial success of this relationship as we apply our time-tested self-storage development formula to bring institutional-quality assets to life throughout the I-95 corridor over the next several months.”
Hampshire, Harrison Street unveil self-storage platform along I-95 corridor
