Abacus Capital and WDM Family Enterprises Acquire Land in Downtown Durham For Self Storage Development

Abacus Capital (“Abacus”), WDM Family Enterprises (“WDM”) and Big Cypress Capital (“Big Cypress”) are pleased to announce the acquisition of 1.2 acres of raw land for the future development of a new Class A multi-story climate controlled self storage facility at 355 Morehead Avenue in downtown Durham, North Carolina.

Located at a signalized intersection along the Durham Freeway (Highway 147), at 75’ in height once delivered the project will offer commanding views from both the freeway’s 68,000 average vehicles per day as well as from the adjacent Tobacco District, downtown Durham’s most dynamic and fastest-growing neighborhood. Durham’s Tobacco District is anchored by the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, immediately across the freeway from the site, as well as several million square feet of recently delivered or currently in-process commercial and multifamily development located only steps from the future facility.

Abacus and its partners were drawn to the site due to its proximity to Durham’s fast-growing urban core, its visibility adjacent to the Durham Freeway as well as the high barriers to future new supply afforded by the site’s status as the last developable CBD-oriented self storage site allowed under the city’s new Unified Development Ordinance (“UDO”).

Once completed, the state-of-the-art asset will consist of more than 75,000 square feet of Class A climate controlled self storage space across seven stories. Extra Space Storage (NYSE: EXR) has been selected to lease and manage the facility. Abacus and WDM are serving as co-developers of the project on behalf of Big Cypress Capital and other clients.

The downtown Durham development represents the Abacus/WDM/Big Cypress Capital consortium’s second ground-up Class A multi-story self storage project. The consortium’s initial project located in South Charlotte was completed in June 2019 and is also third-party managed by Extra Space Storage.

The Project is scheduled to deliver in late 2021. WIMCO Corporation is serving as general contractor with Jared Ducote Architects and Coulter Jewell as principal designers. Construction lending is provided by South State Bank.

ABOUT ABACUS CAPITAL

Abacus Capital is a multi-strategy tactical real estate opportunity investor focused on the acquisition and development of differentiated commercial real estate in growth markets across the southeastern United States. Recognized as one of the fastest growing real estate investment managers in the Charlotte market, Abacus’ mission is to identify investment opportunities that we believe offer our investors the most compelling risk-adjusted returns in dynamic capital markets environments. The principals of Abacus Capital have over 25 years of real estate investing experience and have acquired or developed nearly 16.5M square feet of commercial real estate with a total capitalization in excess of $3.1B.

ABOUT WDM FAMILY ENTERPRISES

WDM Family Enterprises is an investment company focused on direct real estate and operating venture holdings in the southeastern United States. WDM has a diverse portfolio of over three dozen investments spanning a range of sectors and locations. The company’s inhouse development capabilities and extensive construction industry expertise through affiliate McKnight Construction Company, Inc. combine to produce a consistent pipeline of opportunities. The conservatively leveraged balance sheet allows WDM to cultivate its investments over long term hold periods.

ABOUT BIG CYPRESS CAPITAL

Big Cypress Capital’s Headwaters Strategic Operator Platform aims to develop the next generation of real estate managers and deploy investment capital through strategic joint ventures. Leaders from Big Cypress work closely with strategic operators, acting as mentors and advisors to ensure the incorporation of best‐in‐class practices. Since launching its inaugural Headwaters investment fund in 2018 Big Cypress Capital has participated in the acquisition and development of six (6) REIT-managed Class-A ground-up self storage facilities comprising 471,000 square feet and total capitalization of $75.9M located in strong sub markets within high-growth East Coast MSAs including Tampa, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia.