By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
With all the nine- and 10- (and sometimes even 11-) figure industrial, multi-hundred-unit multifamily and multi-hundred-acre mixed-use projects dominating headlines around the state, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the smaller, more specialized developments that bring personality and uniqueness to the Arizona A/E/C landscape.
One such specialty project offering is the portfolio of six Toy Barn luxury specialty personal storage developments operating, rising or expanding around the Phoenix area. Having just broken ground on its second Scottsdale facility and currently planning the third phase expansion for its Chandler location, I recently reached out to Jason Phillips, principal and managing member of Toy Barn owner Wesley Development for his take on the state of A/E/C and Toy Barn’s plans in particular.
Phillips sees Toy Barn as more than just a high-end self-storage solution. “It’s personal warehouse space, really,” he said. “It solves for the guys who have too much stuff (to keep at home). We specialize in cars, but it could be boats, it could be motor homes, it could be people that need excess storage. We try to cultivate that country club-type feel and atmosphere within every community that we have. We have some pretty strict deed restrictions in place – you can’t live in it; you can’t run a business out of it. It’s not an office warehouse. It’s more for the people that need space that don’t want to be in an office/industrial warehouse type of facility. They don’t want small contractors in there, guys with heavy equipment day in and day out that would increase the wear and tear on the facility.”
He went on to say, “They’re hobby garages as well. There are a percentage of guys who like to roll up their sleeves and get in there and turn wrenches. There’s also a handful of guys that want a showplace. They want you to be able to eat off the floor in their unit, so we’ve got a mix of everything, and it varies from community to community.”
One of Toy Barn’s most distinctive features is the inclusion of a 2KSF club room and social space in each facility. The space is free for members to reserve, and Phillips said it is intended to be a focus point at each location to foster a sense of community and membership.
Market Constraints Hit Projects Large and Small
Like all projects, the various Toy Barn developments and expansions have been besieged by labor and materials shortages impacting costs and timelines.
“We’re doing the best we can, given the shortages of everything,” Phillips said. “I think we’re kind of just working through it. We’re having problems with labor. We’re having problems with grout. Obviously there’s a shortage of masons. Our roof bar joists are a problem, too. I think we’re not immune to what’s going on in the market. It’s tough out there right now.”
Phillips used his difficulties with grout to illustrate the end-to-end challenges impacting the entire development market. “One of the problems we have with grout is the truck drivers. They don’t have enough guys to drive trucks and they don’t have enough trucks to deliver the grout. You’ve got a lack of trucks and truckers. The problem is systemic, and I don’t know how to work through this.”
He added the Phoenix area’s population growth has been a mixed blessing. It has fueled exceptional demand but also placed exceptional burdens on the systems and services to satisfy it. “You can’t drop a couple hundred thousand people in a place over a two-year period without impacts.”
He added, however, “That’s what’s fueling our growth. A lot of our buyers are the 55-plus demographic that’s moving here from the Midwest or the Pacific Northwest and they’re coming down here and downsizing or they want that snowbird lifestyle and they need that extra space. They need the garage space or they need the warehouse space.”
The area’s in-migration combined with the impact of the pandemic on users’ space needs has been a major demand generator for Toy Barn. Phillips said, “We’ve really taken off. We were doing well before, but it’s really taken off in the last 18-24 months. All of our communities are full, and we have wait lists at all of them. We’ve sold out our Scottsdale project that we just broke ground on. We’ve got another 49 units (planned) in Chandler, and I suspect when we get site plan approval and actually take it to market it’ll also be sold out before we break ground. We’re actively looking for ground all over greater Phoenix.”
Returning to the downside of the current demand hike, Phillips added, “That’s becoming increasingly difficult to find because the land prices are another challenge. They’ve skyrocketed in the last 24 months.”
The Toy Barn Facilities List
Whatever new location Phillips may target next will join an impressive and extensive array of developments around the Valley.
Toy Barn’s first facility opened in January of 2010 on Peak View Road near the intersection with Cave Creek Road, offering users 85 units in an 85KSF development.
The second location, on Lone Mountain Road east of Cave Creek Road, opened in October 2018 with 56 units at 65KSF.
The third facility, 18 units in 24KSF, opened at the NEC of Greenway Road and 78th Street near Scottsdale Airpark in May 2019.
Toy Barn’s fourth location, Chandler Airport, opened its first 66-unit/80KSF first phase last March. Phase two (30 units/42KSF) will open next month, and Phase three (49 units/73KSF) is scheduled to break ground in January with a planned Q1 2024 opening. Phillips said at its full 145-unit buildout, Toy Barn Chandler will be one of the largest garage condominium developments in the country.
The fifth site, Lone Mountain North, opened its first phase with 64 units/75KSF last May, and included 39 covered RV parking stalls, the first condominium covered parking stall community in Arizona. Phase two (39 units/45KSF) is scheduled to open this August.
The sixth and most recent development, in Scottsdale on Helm Drive east of Scottsdale Road, broke ground this month and will feature 52 units/75KSF when it opens in Q2 of next year.
