The Cushman & Wakefield Self-Storage Advisory Group has been retained as exclusive advisor to offer for sale StorQuest Self Storage (Managed) a Class-A self storage facility located in the high-barrier-to-entry Petaluma, California submarket of Sonoma County.
The property sits on 3.8 acres at 1118 Auto Center Drive. Upon completion of the in-process 14,527 SF expansion, it will total 84,206 net rentable square feet across 860 storage units and 23 parking spaces (883 total). The existing 69,679 NRSF facility is approximately 88% occupied and has held stabilized occupancy since mid-2024. Climate control is being added throughout the existing building as well as the expansion. Both the expansion and addition of climate control are expected to deliver by December 2026. In-place rent of $2.19 per occupied square foot sits well below the $2.70 - $2.90/SF rents achieved at the other REIT managed stores that offer climate controlled with only one facility in the market that is newer-vintage and climate-controlled — a clear runway for rate growth.
The property opened in early 2023 and reached stabilized occupancy in less than 18 months. Rental revenue has continued to grow through annual rate increases with occupancy remaining stable — performance achieved entirely on non-climate-controlled space. While revenue has grown, significant upside remains embedded in the rent roll: in-place rents are approximately 30% below market rents for comparable climate-controlled product, with gaps of 35% to 45% across the interior main-floor and elevator-served units that account for roughly 80% of existing net rentable area.
Petaluma is a very high barrier-to-entry self storage market. Only one other facility has been delivered into the trade area since 2001, and there is no new supply in the development pipeline. Most of the competitive set is older, first-generation product without climate control; the only like-for-like competitor is a 2019-vintage Public Storage on Petaluma Blvd, which anchors market rents close to $3.00/SF. Additionally, the trade area is dense and affluent, with average household incomes of $154,358 and population density just under 87,000 people within 5 miles.
In summary, StorQuest Petaluma offers investors a Class-A institutional-quality asset in a supply-constrained coastal Northern California market, with near-term growth supported by the climate-control conversion, the delivery of the expansion, and a rent roll positioned meaningfully below market.