North Palisade Partners, a development and investment firm focused on industrial, self-storage, and industrial outdoor storage (IOS), has expanded its self-storage platform and announced that industry veteran Steve Cobbs will lead self-storage for the firm. Cobbs, who brings with him nearly 30 years of commercial real estate experience, was named Managing Director of North Palisade Self Storage. Prior to joining the North Palisade team, Cobbs most recently served as a Director at Invesco Real Estate where he was the self-storage sector lead.
Joe Mishurda, Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based North Palisade Partners, said, “The self-storage asset class has emerged as a growing aspect of North Palisade’s overall real estate investment portfolio. That growth has led to a need for a sector-specific team to continue building and maintaining our burgeoning portfolio. Steve’s acute focus on the self-storage sector and impressive portfolio-building track record in this asset class, combined with a career that spans nearly three decades, makes him an ideal complement to our team and to lead our self-storage platform.”
Cobbs will hold responsibility for self-storage asset acquisitions, overseeing the deal sourcing, due diligence, and transaction executions. He will also be responsible for asset management functions related to the 330,000 square feet of self-storage assets already held by North Palisade Partners and additional assets expected to be added to the firm’s growing portfolio. Cobbs will be involved with developing and implementing financing strategies for self-storage investments, as well as capital raising efforts. He will also work to identify and acquire sites for self-storage development and provide oversight of the development process.
Cobbs’ role at Invesco involved overseeing all aspects of its self-storage platform including acquisitions, underwriting and asset management. He was instrumental in leading Invesco’s entrance into the self-storage sector, an effort that resulted in an assemblage of approximately 50,000 units across more than 60 properties in 16 states and valued at over $1 billion. Earlier in his real estate career, Cobbs spent time at KBS Realty Advisors, First Guardian Group, Siebel Systems, Inc. Sun Microsystems, and Newmark.
Cobbs said, “I am looking forward to building a formidable self-storage platform at North Palisade, as we capture demand from investors seeking the solid risk-adjusted returns this recession-resilient asset class can produce. I’ve had the fortune of establishing a performance-driven reputation in this asset class and that’s led to an array of both on- and off-market self-storage acquisition and development opportunities over the years.”
Cobbs added “We intend to aggregate approximately $400-$500 million of self-storage assets over the next 36 months, focusing on core-plus, value-add, and development opportunities in primary and secondary markets across the United States. We believe the current dislocation in values provides an opportune time to deploy capital.”
Cobbs serves on the Board of Directors of the California Self Storage Association. He earned a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, as well as a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of the Pacific.