Time & Place Stacks Up $1bn Storage X Ambition

Time &amp; Place is taking its self-storage strategy to the next level, pursuing two new Melbourne projects as it aims for a $1-billion portfolio in the sector. Time &amp; Place executive director Chris O’Keefe says that self storage was a “long-term strategy,” after acquiring the Storage X brand in 2024, in partnership with financiers Ladon Capital. “It is a genuine conviction play on the asset class fundamentals,” O’Keefe says. “While the office sector has come under pressure, self-storage has been one of the best-performing sectors for growth, in particular for new facilities in locations where demand is not being met.” ▲ Time &amp; Place laid the foundations for its self-storage play by acquiring Storage X in 2024. And Time &amp; Place has big dreams for Storage X, which will be operated as a standalone brand. Under current expansion plans, the portfolio will be more than 60,000sq m across six sites in Melbourne and Brisbane, and valued at $500 million. Sites in Sydney are also being designed. “Our ambition is to grow the portfolio to $1 billion across Australia's eastern seaboard,” O’Keefe says. Continued population growth, higher density development and the subsequent need for storage space are underpinning the play. “Changing lifestyles and rising property prices mean people are living in smaller homes, and Australia's adoption of self-storage still lags the US by around two-thirds, leaving significant room to grow towards international benchmarks.” Self storage: the quiet achiever In a volatile market, developers are looking to pivot and diversify, whether it’s into other markets, or other sectors. O’Keefe says it is a high-growth and “essential” sector in the property market. “Australia remains under-utilised compared with international markets, and as a business always looking to maximise opportunities, we see self-storage as an emerging sector with strong growth ahead,” he says. Research from Ray White Commercial found that investment volumes had increased to record levels, with total transactions reaching $6.86 billion during 2025/26, an increase of 889 per cent on the prior year, demonstrating heightened investor interest. National occupancy sits close to 90 per cent, RWC head of research Vanessa Rader says at the time, “a level that has held broadly steady even as new supply has entered the market”. ▲ Its Bentleigh project is one of six Time &amp; Place is working on in Melbourne. Last year the Self Storage Association of Australia said there was 3380 facilities across Australia and New Zealand, amounting to 7.5 million square metres of net storage area at fees of $394 per square metre. Australia still has room to grow before it reaches international levels of adoption, O’Keefe says. Less than 10 per cent of the population uses self storage, according to the Self Storage Association of Australia. And Time &amp; Place’s portfolio will add to the rise of this sleeping giant in the commercial real estate market. Storage X draws on existing Time &amp; Place experience, but the team will expand as the portfolio grows and the business is open to partnership with smaller operators. “The portfolio will focus on infill sites in high-density residential areas along the eastern seaboard, across Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney,” O’Keefe says. All facilities will be standalone purpose-built new facilities, with a focus on “security and user experience, with drive-in/drive-through access at all sites, digital security access, and fire safety and prevention measures,” O’Keefe says. Time &amp; Place’s Storage X pipeline projects Ladon Capital and Time &amp; Place’s first Storage X site will open at 223 Separation Street at Northcote in October, with another site at 1B Toven Akas Avenue at Bentleigh following in November. It follows an intensive two years of acquisition and development. Adding to its pipeline, it has submitted plans for 18 McIntyre Street at Burwood, about 19km east of the Melbourne CBD. The developer wants to build a four-storey self-storage facility, offices and car park on the 6633sq m site, 150m from the Burwood Highway. ▲ Time &amp; Place has lodged plans for a new self storage facility in Burwood. The planned self storage site would be estimated to deliver more than 1000 storage units, with sizes from 3sq m up to 18sq m. Time &amp; Place’s second planned self storage facility at 70-80 Gwynne Street and 97 Cubitt Street at Cremorne, 14km east of the Burwood site and 4km south-east of Melbourne CBD, sits on a site previously earmarked for an office development. Both projects are being designed by Concept Y Architects. It also acquired an inner-city Melbourne site at 24-42 Alexandra Parade in Clifton Hill in 2025, with sites at Huntingdale and Bentleigh, bringing it to six facilities in Melbourne, before Storage X turns its attention to metro Sydney. “We see this as a high-growth, undersupplied sector,” O’Keefe says.

Exclusive
Clare Burnett
Mon 28 Sep 26

Time & Place Stacks Up $1bn Storage X Ambition