Box Storage, a portfolio company of Merito Self Storage Fund managed by Latvian investment company Merito Partners (Merito), has acquired its first property in Tallinn at Punane 46. Merito plans to invest a total of EUR 2.5 million in transforming the building into a Box Storage self storage facility with 400 individual storage units and a leasable area of at least 1,500 square meters.
The total area of the former Selver building is 1,700 square meters with 4,800 square meters of land and 56 parking spaces. The reconstruction plans include construction of a mezzanine floor, creating a leasable area of at least 1,500 square meters.
Mārtiņš Baumanis, Partner at Merito: “The demand for self storage premises in the Baltic capitals exceeds the supply. In order to develop the largest self storage facility network in the Baltics we focus on acquiring and converting existing, underutilized buildings into specialized storage facilities. We carefully considered the decision to acquire our first property in Tallinn and are convinced that the location is perfectly suited for storage facility. It is located in one of the most densely populated districts of Tallinn in Lasnamäe, next to a street with 10,000 cars daily traffic.”
Tallinn’s Box Storage facility, like portfolio’s other self storage buildings, will have energy-efficient construction solutions and security technologies. The facility will offer modern technologies, including a mobile app that provides instant access to the premises with one touch, as well as remote online transactions and automatic payment for services. Customers will have 24/7 access to their storage units.
Last autumn, Merito established a specialized real estate fund Merito Self Storage Fund with a target size of EUR 30 million. The fund aims to secure an additional EUR 50 million in debt co-financing to establish the leading pan-Baltic self storage network within five years. It will consist of 10 to 15 self storage facilities with at least 50,000 square meters of leasable area and over 10,000 individual self storage units.
Merito Partners has secured over EUR 8 million in capital from 22 Latvian investors and is actively continuing to fundraise. Several properties are currently being evaluated across the Baltics, and additional assets are expected to be acquired in the next several months.