Storage is one of the most land-heavy assets there is — the buildings cost little relative to the dirt they sit on. That makes it a textbook covered-land play. We buy the land; you keep the facility and 100% of the upside.
| With a Valor ground lease | The usual path | |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | Land value funds the down payment — buy the facility on a thinner check, the leasehold loan covers the rest. | Larger common equity raise, or a pricier bridge, to close the purchase. |
| Expansion | Land proceeds fund the next building or phase on the existing parcel — you build out the site on a thinner check. | A construction loan plus fresh equity to fund the additional units. |
| Construction takeout | Permanent, non-amortizing capital retires the construction loan at lease-up without a cash-in refinance. | Cash-in refinance or a mini-perm to clear the maturing construction debt. |
| Recap / pref takeout | Buy out the partner — land proceeds replace expensive preferred or LP equity, so you keep the promote. | Carry a 9–15% pref, or surrender promote and control to a new equity partner. |
| Operations | Stay the operator — you keep the rent roll, the management, and the brand. | A full sale or sale-leaseback can hand operating control to a new owner or REIT. |
| Your upside | 100% kept — you own the building, the cash flow, and the appreciation. | Shared with whatever pref or JV equity you brought in to fill the gap. |
And: stabilized or lease-up facilities fit best — the in-place rent roll covers the ground rent · the land comes out as permanent capital with no balloon and no maturity wall · one principal counterparty for the land and the leasehold financing.
Storage is extremely land-heavy: the buildings are low-cost shells relative to the value of the land they occupy. That high land share is exactly the covered-land profile a ground lease monetizes, and the durable, management-light rent roll covers the ground rent, roughly a quarter of NOI, three to four times over. It is one of the cleanest fits we underwrite.
Yes. At lease-up the ground-lease proceeds can retire the construction loan as permanent, non-amortizing capital, without a cash-in refinance or a mini-perm. Because the land is no longer your collateral, the leasehold loan that remains sizes off the smaller basis.
Acquisitions, expansions or new phases on the existing parcel, construction takeouts, and buying out preferred or JV equity. The land value, typically 30 to 40% of basis, comes out as permanent, non-amortizing capital at roughly 6 to 6.75%, so it can replace the most expensive money in your stack while you keep the promote.
No. You keep the building, the rent roll, the management, and 100% of the upside and promote. We buy only the land and lease it back to you on a long-term, typically 99-year, lease. The operations and the value creation all stay with you.
Land-heavy self-storage — acquisitions, expansions, construction takeouts, and pref or JV recaps. Send the address, the as-complete stabilized NOI, and total project cost — we return an indicative land value in 48 hours, as principal or arranged capital.
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