Self-Storage Operations Dashboard

Rental income, roughly 90% of total revenue, is driven by NRSF multiplied by market rent per square foot, occupancy, and twelve months.

• Occupancy uses an average-of-period formula capped at stabilised occupancy: the first year averages only a partial ramp, the second year continues, and by the third year the facility reaches its stabilised level.
• A fixed vacancy and concessions allowance is applied every year, including at stabilisation, so effective collections sit below physical occupancy.
• Tenant insurance income and ancillary income (admin fees, retail, late fees as a percentage of gross potential rent) complete the revenue build.

All property operating expenses are modelled as fixed or semi-fixed dollars per square foot applied to total NRSF, not occupied NRSF, and escalate annually.

• This is the key relationship: during lease-up, revenue ramps while opex stays largely fixed, producing negative or near-zero NOI in Years 1–2 and a stabilised NOI margin target of roughly 56–62% from Year 3.
• Opex is split into six operator line items—property taxes, payroll, utilities, insurance, maintenance and repairs, and marketing—plus a management fee taken as a percentage of effective gross income.

A single-tranche senior loan is sized at 65% of total development cost, with an interest-only period during lease-up before amortising.

• The model funds an operating shortfall reserve inside total development cost at Year 0.
• A reserve roll-forward on the Returns sheet then absorbs the Year 1–2 levered operating deficits, so the equity investor is not charged for the lease-up shortfall twice; any unused reserve balance is returned at exit.
• Levered cash flow floors near zero during lease-up, with any residual deficit treated as a genuine equity call.

Exit value is calculated by capitalising forward Year 8 NOI at the exit cap rate, then deducting selling costs and the Year 7 loan payoff.

• The dashboard summarises headline outputs: levered and unlevered IRR, equity multiple, yield on cost, minimum DSCR, exit value, total equity, and total development cost, alongside a Year 1–7 NOI ramp.
• A sensitivity grid shows levered IRR across exit cap rate and annual rent growth, and a Checks sheet validates structuring relationships such as sources equalling uses, NRSF consistency, DSCR covenant coverage, and whether yield on cost exceeds the exit cap rate.
• A scenario toggle switches between base, upside, and downside inputs for lease-up velocity, rent growth, and exit cap rate.