Heitman Extends Market Lead With New Liffey Valley Self-Storage Facility

Global real estate investment management firm Heitman has completed a 150K SF self-storage facility in Liffey Valley, Dublin, to be operated under its U Store It brand.

Chicago-headquartered Heitman acquired U Store It in 2022 and has grown the business from six to nine assets across Ireland, making it the sector's market leader.

The new Dublin facility comprises more than 2,500 storage units designed to accommodate a range of personal, commercial and specialist storage needs, featuring covered loading areas and parking, a first-floor café and a hot-desking office space. The facility also includes rooftop solar energy production and an eco-conscious roofing system.   

“With supply historically constrained and operational capacity limited, we see value in Ireland’s self-storage market, which continues to benefit from shifting consumer behaviour and growing demand for flexible space solutions,” Heitman Managing Director and Head of European Private Equity Tony Smedley said in a statement.

“As we continue to scale our exposure to alternative sectors across European commercial real estate, we believe Irish self-storage stands out as a high growth opportunity with long-term potential,” he added.

There is approaching 1.4M SF of self-storage space in Ireland, spread across 45 traditional self-storage stores and over 33 container-based self-storage operations, according to the Irish Self Storage Association. 

This equates to around 0.2 SF per person, below the European average and well behind the largest European market, the UK, which is approaching 1 SF per capita. However, according to the Association’s recent market report, occupancy is above the European average at around 85%, with about 24% of space occupied by businesses.

The average rental being achieved is around €27.50 per SF, about the weighted average for Europe.

Heitman has been investing in European self-storage since 2008. With the completion of the Liffey Valley facility, Heitman’s total self-storage footprint in Ireland now totals approximately 800K SF, and its overall European self-storage portfolio has grown to 1.5M SF.

Fellow U.S. investor Harrison Street recently formed a joint venture to enter the UK self-storage market, citing it as a high-growth opportunity.