Building Through the Storm: How Uplift Development Group Is Seizing Opportunity in a Challenged Self Storage Market

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

03 Dec 2025

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The self storage development sector is facing a major slowdown. Industry data indicates that up to 75% of development projects currently in the pipeline have stalled or been abandoned, leading to a sharp drop in new supply. For Brandon Grebe, CEO and co-founder of Uplift Development Group, this environment is not a roadblock but an opening.

“The contrarian view is: developing now is very hard. Therefore, that is exactly why we should be developing,” Grebe says. “When we finish our developments and bring them online, there won’t be as much competition coming up around us.”

This strategy has shaped Uplift’s eleven-year trajectory, including a major reset after its 2024 exit from a joint venture with National Storage Affiliates (NSA). Now independent, the Colorado-based company manages about 10,000 units across 1.3 million square feet of self storage, with plans to expand further.

From Joint Venture to Independent Expansion

Uplift’s growth reflects larger trends in self storage. The company began as a developer-owner-operator focused on new construction, building a portfolio in Colorado, Texas, and Arizona with a mix of roughly 75% development and 25% acquisitions.

The partnership with NSA started after a large transaction in South Texas, eventually making Uplift NSA’s 11th “preferred regional operator” at the end of 2019. “They have access to public capital, and we did a lot of transactions and deals with them,” Grebe says.

By summer 2024, NSA bought out 41 properties, along with Uplift’s intellectual property, brand, and name. “It was a good time for us to refresh,” Grebe explains. The company rebranded to Uplift Development and Uplift Self Storage, setting the stage for renewed independent growth.

Rebuilding Operations With Technology

Freed from legacy systems after the buyout, Uplift rebuilt its operations from scratch. “We were able to shop best-in-class technology platforms to create our property management company,” Grebe says.

Uplift uses a blend of artificial intelligence and human oversight to improve efficiency. AI-powered chatbots handle common customer needs like forgotten gate codes, payment issues, and facility access, reducing back-office workload. “We’re limiting our back-of-house services by leveraging technology,” Grebe says.

However, the company maintains a strong human presence. “We still believe in human management, especially in our industry. Some have tried to remove that entirely, but it hasn’t worked well.”

Uplift hired a Director of Operations with experience managing over 100 properties and built out county and operations teams. This infrastructure supports both current assets and future development.

Building Amid a Supply Squeeze

While many developers have paused new projects due to rising costs and tighter financing, Uplift continues to pursue three to five new developments each year. The company’s strategy is grounded in current supply-demand trends.

“It was definitely frothy for a while on developments and markets got overbuilt, and now there are a lot of projects that aren’t making it to groundbreaking,” Grebe says. “The pure supply-demand metrics show demand is steady or increasing, and supply is shrinking. There’s more value for that demand.”

Uplift’s approach requires strict deal screening. Out of hundreds of potential projects reviewed annually, “for every 100 deals, 99 of them are no,” Grebe estimates. The company uses a multi-stage filtering system: software screening, desktop reviews, market visits, competitive shopping, and full underwriting.

Geographically, Uplift focuses on Mountain West states such as Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, and Sun Belt markets including Texas, Kansas, and the Southeast. “We’re building out markets we’re already in to get concentration, or entering new ones to create operational efficiencies with management, branding, and digital services,” Grebe says.

Navigating Financing and Capital Costs

Today’s financing landscape presents both hurdles and openings. “Lenders are still around and willing to lend at market rates. It’s the capital that’s getting more expensive, so the equity part of that stack is getting more expensive,” Grebe explains.

Equity investors now expect higher returns, competing with traditional Wall Street investments offering strong risk-adjusted returns. Still, Grebe believes strong deals continue to attract capital. “Money always follows good deals. Our job is to find good deals and execute on them, and then the money will come.”

Uplift sources equity from retail investors, friends and family, family offices, and larger institutional funds, which have recently returned to the self storage sector with significant capital to deploy.

Signs of Market Stabilization

Recent data suggests the self storage industry is starting to recover from its post-pandemic correction. “The last Q3 report from the REITs showed positive increases in achieved rents and some of the metrics we use, which is the first time in a while, so it feels like it’s coming out,” Grebe says.

This follows what Grebe describes as a needed reset. “For those of us who were in storage before COVID, it performed extremely well through COVID, one of the best asset classes. But that meant a reset was coming, and it happened.”

The correction has dispelled the notion that self storage is an easy path to profit. “There were misconceptions a few years ago that it was easy and just made a lot of money. That’s been corrected, and now there are some broken deals.”

Operational Complexity and Industry Competition

A common misunderstanding is that self storage operations are simple. “Self storage is an operating business, and people outside the industry think it just runs itself,” Grebe says. “Now, you need best-in-class operations and technology to compete with the large REITs.”

Uplift’s investments in technology, staffing, and systematic processes are a direct response to these competitive pressures.

Opportunistic Growth in a Disrupted Market

Uplift’s short-term plan is to pursue acquisitions and development opportunities created by market distress. The company is under contract to acquire an 18-property portfolio in Colorado, showing its willingness to grow even as others pull back.

“There’ll be opportunities for us going into 2026, looking at deals opportunistically, and getting back to more industry norms of growth that will be healthy for the industry,” Grebe says.

These opportunities include “shovel-ready deals” where prior developers have completed much of the groundwork but are unable or unwilling to proceed. “Development takes a long time when you start from scratch. Some people have already done the work, but can’t or won’t finish. As a developer, that speeds up our timeline.”

Acquisitions also appeal to buyers with a long-term outlook. “You can buy assets at a good all-in price right now if you like the long-term fundamentals, which we do.”

For Uplift Development Group, today’s market disruption validates their contrarian approach. By continuing to develop while others retreat, investing in operational excellence, and targeting markets with strong demographics, the company believes it is positioned to benefit as the industry stabilizes.

As Grebe summarizes, “You’ve got to be a subject matter expert to be successful today.” For Uplift, that means navigating complexity while others seek shortcuts, building during uncertainty, and maintaining confidence in long-term fundamentals despite short-term volatility.