Executives from Diversified Properties, The Hampshire Cos. and 1026 Real Estate Investors were joined by State Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-26 District, Morris County Commissioner Thomas Mastrangelo and Montville Township officials on April 22 to celebrate the ribbon-cutting for a new CubeSmart facility at 352 Main Road/Route 202 in Montville.
Diversified Properties and its in-house construction team, Morris Construction Management, oversaw the development process. The Hampshire Cos. and 1026 Real Estate Investors co-funded equity for the project.
Standing at 98,000 square feet, the 755-unit, fully climate-controlled building features units ranging from 5 x 5 feet through 10 x 30 feet.
From left, Donald Haake, senior executive vice president, SB One Bank; Douglas Oliver, principal, 1026 Real Estate Investors LLC; Steven Schepis, The Law Office of Steven C. Schepis LLC; Nicholas Minoia, managing partner, Diversified Properties LLC; Montville Township Mayor Richard Conklin; Robert Nocella, principal, SNS Architects & Engineers PC; Marc Walker, Dykstra Walker Design Group; and Chuck Tint, vice president, Diversified Properties LLC celebrate the groundbreaking for the a 98,000-square-foot, climate-controlled self-storage facility at 352 Main Road in Montville in early fall 2019. – DIVERSIFIED PROPERTIES
The facility provides easy ground-level access with more than 40 exterior garage doors on the main level, a state-of-the-art security system with multiple access points, video cameras for both interior and exterior units, gated entry and security lighting throughout. An onsite office offers consumers added convenience with a variety of moving and storage supplies available for sale including packing material, boxes and tape, as well as locks for all storage units.
The completion of the facility marks the final component of Diversified Properties’ value-add strategy for the 5-acre Montville site.
Upon acquiring the property in 2015, the site was comprised of a 35,000-square-foot office building that was 80 percent vacant and a 2.5-acre pad site that had been zoned for office construction in the late 80s. With deep roots in Montville, Diversified Properties recognized the untapped potential of the site.
Through an aggressive leasing strategy, Diversified Properties brought the office building to full occupancy with a diverse tenant roster and now has its corporate headquarters in the building.
Although Diversified Properties had success with the lease-up of the existing office building on the site, the company’s leadership recognized a strategic location at the intersection of Interstate 287 and Route 202 would make it an ideal self-storage development site. Diversified Properties then tapped CubeSmart to ensure the property would be managed to the standards of an institutional-quality self-storage facility.
“For 20 years, our team has taken great pride in our consistent ability to unlock value from opportunistic real estate investments across a variety of asset classes,” said Nicholas Minoia, founding principal of Diversified Properties. “This project is special for us as it is quite literally in our company’s backyard and it allowed us to deploy our value-creation platform to provide tangible economic benefits to our hometown.”
