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Maple Leaf Storage Sold to QuadReal
Last week, QuadReal, the Vancouver based real estate investment company owned by BCI, announced the finalization of one of the worst-kept secrets in the Canadian storage industry. While the full details of the transaction remain undisclosed, discussions with other bidders and storage industry sources have provided some insights into the metrics.
The storage community believes the transaction for all 15 Maple Leaf assets in Greater Vancouver (11 sites) and Calgary (4 sites) is between $960-975 million dollars. This is the largest Self Storage transaction in Canadian history. While it didn’t set a price PSF record, it established a low Cap rate benchmark due to the portfolio size, asset quality, management potential, and funding source.
The transaction includes 15 sites, primarily newer Class A facilities, with some older sites designated for redevelopment. Additionally, one site is under a land lease, and another is situated within an air parcel. According to public records, the total rentable square footage is 1.7 million, with an assessed value exceeding $530 million based on the 2025 assessment data. The sale price being elevated so far above the assessed value may posed re assessment and property tax risks that hopefully were accounted for in the transaction.
Given the origin of QuadReal’s funds and the mandate of BCI to increase the BC public pensions fund above the rate of inflation, this acquisition is a strategic decision despite the Capitalization rate being below the market range typically observed in the storage industry. Considering Vancouver’s land costs, entitlement times, and construction expenses, it could be argued that QuadReal paid less for the portfolio than it would cost to rebuild and lease it. Some sites in the portfolio have land values nearly equal to the facility’s value on an income basis.
QuadReal plans to keep Maple Leaf’s current management instead of hiring a third-party manager. If the results fall short, they may consider switching to external management to boost portfolio performance. Raising operational income and redeveloping at least two sites are crucial for a strong return on this portfolio acquisition.
Time will tell whether this large transaction revitalizes Canada’s self-storage industry, which has seen few significant deals in the past two years, or if it’s an exception made by a non-storage operator with different return metrics than the rest of the Canadian Storage industry. This is however not the first time we have seen extremely low Cap rate transactions in the storage industry with the acquisition of Manhattan Mini by Storage Mart in 2021 coming to mind as it had a similarly low Cap rate but also included a portfolio of Prime located storage facilities in a major metropolitan market.
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By Patrick WoodLast week, QuadReal, the Vancouver based real estate investment company owned by BCI, announced the finalization of one of the worst-kept secrets in the Canadian storage industry. While the full details of the transaction remain undisclosed, discussions with other bidders and storage industry sources have provided some insights into the metrics.
The storage community believes the transaction for all 15 Maple Leaf assets in Greater Vancouver (11 sites) and Calgary (4 sites) is between $960-975 million dollars. This is the largest Self Storage transaction in Canadian history. While it didn’t set a price PSF record, it established a low Cap rate benchmark due to the portfolio size, asset quality, management potential, and funding source.
The transaction includes 15 sites, primarily newer Class A facilities, with some older sites designated for redevelopment. Additionally, one site is under a land lease, and another is situated within an air parcel. According to public records, the total rentable square footage is 1.7 million, with an assessed value exceeding $530 million based on the 2025 assessment data. The sale price being elevated so far above the assessed value may posed re assessment and property tax risks that hopefully were accounted for in the transaction.
Given the origin of QuadReal’s funds and the mandate of BCI to increase the BC public pensions fund above the rate of inflation, this acquisition is a strategic decision despite the Capitalization rate being below the market range typically observed in the storage industry. Considering Vancouver’s land costs, entitlement times, and construction expenses, it could be argued that QuadReal paid less for the portfolio than it would cost to rebuild and lease it. Some sites in the portfolio have land values nearly equal to the facility’s value on an income basis.
QuadReal plans to keep Maple Leaf’s current management instead of hiring a third-party manager. If the results fall short, they may consider switching to external management to boost portfolio performance. Raising operational income and redeveloping at least two sites are crucial for a strong return on this portfolio acquisition.
Time will tell whether this large transaction revitalizes Canada’s self-storage industry, which has seen few significant deals in the past two years, or if it’s an exception made by a non-storage operator with different return metrics than the rest of the Canadian Storage industry. This is however not the first time we have seen extremely low Cap rate transactions in the storage industry with the acquisition of Manhattan Mini by Storage Mart in 2021 coming to mind as it had a similarly low Cap rate but also included a portfolio of Prime located storage facilities in a major metropolitan market.