Mitiska REIM, a leading specialist investor in European convenience real estate, opened a new self-storage facility in the Belgian city of Roeselare, in partnership with STORO.
This latest STORO site has 462 self-storage units covering a net rentable area of 2,900 sqm, combined with 680 sqm of extra-large units targeted at SMEs. Formerly a furniture showroom, the existing building on site has been refurbished and retrofitted to create a modern and sustainable self-storage facility. Conveniently located on a main road 3km north of the city centre and close to the city’s ring road, the complex also features a wholesale unit and a Dockx rental vehicle office.
In March this year, Mitiska REIM and STORO announced a joint venture partnership and plans to roll out the innovative STORO concept initially in Belgium, followed by other European markets. The new Roeselare site is STORO’s third in Belgium, with other sites in Brecht and Mechelen. Offering customers a unique digital booking and onboarding process, a keyless system for units managed on a mobile app, and a fully digital automated service, this latest site will be the first next-generation storage facility in the Roeselare area.
Lennert De Bruyn, Co-founder and Managing Director of STORO, comments: “We are seeing growing demand for self-storage in Belgium supported by the structural-demographic trends which are driving demand, often referred to as the 4Ds – dislocation, downsizing, divorce and death. We are actively looking to acquire other buildings and sites in Belgium as we roll out the STORO concept across other cities with several new projects under investigation.”
Bart Rabaey, Mitiska REIM’s Chief Investment Strategy Officer, adds: “We see a significant opportunity to transform and capture value from assets which are currently underperforming, vacant or obsolete. This strategy not only creates the opportunity to acquire sites at attractive pricing, it also contributes to sustainable development by repurposing existing buildings and providing them with a new future, in addition to retaining the embodied carbon within.”
