What’s up, everyone? Today, we’re hearing some highlights from Lincoln Archibald on how Ryan Gibson is growing a $500M+ self-storage empire!
Ryan Gibson is President and CIO of Spartan Investment Group, an LLC that syndicates investor capital to develop real estate. According to its LinkedIn, “Spartan’s projects range from self-storage facilities to residential raw land development and luxury condos.”
Let’s dive into the interview!
Spartan Accolades
Lincoln: Give me the elevator pitch on Spartan!
Ryan: In 2014, my neighbor, Scott, and I met and started a self-storage company that is the 36th largest self-storage operator in the US. We’ve 60 properties in 13 states, with $650M Aum. We are unique because we have a construction company that builds self-storage properties and renonavates the ones that we buy. We are strictly a retail investor network, which means that we have an investment minimum of $50K; we’ve raised $300M that way and currently have 1,100 active investors.
We pride ourselves in our due diligence, values, adherence to our mission, which states that we take care of our investors.
Who are the Investors?
Lincoln: So you primarily raise from high net worth investors instead of institutional?
Ryan: Yes, they’re made up of many individuals who have exited their successful businesses, also lawyers, doctors, and members of c-suites. Retail investors have worked out well for us. It sounds like a nightmare to an institutional fund manager, but we’ve got a good system with great communication.
Regulation D and Spartan
Lincoln: Are your products primarily Regulation D? If so, how do you get around investor limitations? What types of filings are you doing?
(“Reg D” lets you raise private capital with securities, such as equity shares, that are exempt from SEC registration)
Ryan: Yes, they are all Reg D. To my understanding, we do 506(c) and sometimes do 506(b).
**see my other blog explaining 506(b) and 506(c) here!
Lincoln: What does your product mix look like?
Ryan: Our bread and butter is single asset syndications: buying one self-storage at a time. However, up to now we’ve done 4 funds. Those funds are closed-ended with typically 5-year holds. We target value-add self-storage. We even had a fund this year that targeted ground-up development. So, whether the investor likes investing in one product at a time or diversifying over the years, we have options.
Developing Your Craft
Lincoln: How did your products come to be?
Ryan: Although it’s rare, we got our start in ground-up development. We have a surprisingly large amount of investors with a high risk tolerance, and you’ll naturally find those products to be naturally higher risk and higher reward.
Through time, we’ve created a track record of finding and acquiring property at a low basis, and applying some sophisicated entitlement on those projects, and then delivering that property when it is fully entitled. Additionally, our contruction contractors and in-house contruction teams have just done really well. We build about a half million in square feet every year!
Conclusion
That’s all we’re covering today from this podcast interview, but click here to listen to the rest!
Hopefully from hearing about Ryan’s experience in growing a $500M+ self-storage empire, you have some takeaways that will help you manage your own fund!
Visit the “Funds that Won” podcast to listen to other episodes like this! And don’t forget to visit Fund Launch if you want help starting your own investment fund!
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DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not to be taken as tax, financial, or legal advice. You should always consult a legal professional before taking action. Furthermore, this is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. The content is solely just the opinion of the authors.