Mass Storage
In recent years the Self Storage industry has exploded. One of the wealthiest citizens of Kentucky, Larry Hughes, has made a fortune leasing storage space to individuals and businesses throughout the U.S. And in recent years this former ‘mom and pop’ industry has seen massive consolidation as a handful of large storage corporations are buying up existing storage complexes.
In 2017, John Shumate and Mark Crane decided to form a partnership to purchase and develop storage real estate. They found two experienced developers / operators in Louisville and raised $3 Million from 20 investors between 2017-19. Rob Penta has been the attorney on several storage transactions for family offices and he joined the fund’s Investment Committee in 2019. Today, the fund owns one operating facility in Jefferson County and two parcels of land ready for development. Venture First handles all of the accounting and reporting for the fund.