The Crest Group was joined by local elected officials and business leaders earlier this month at a ribbon-cutting for its new self-storage development in St. James.
The CubeSmart-branded self-storage development brings 1,008 self-storage units in a 114,000-square-foot building to a narrow 3.05-acre site at 514 Middle Country Road.
Construction on the project began in April 2024 and was just completed.
“I was very proud of the team’s accomplishments on this project given the difficult site circumstances we faced and the unique building layout,” said Marco Scarda, director of Business Development for The Crest Group. “This project highlighted our team’s ability to tackle complicated construction issues, including multi-story concrete and steel systems on a narrow site and supply chain disruptions throughout the build process which we neutralized, allowing us to deliver on time.”
Assisting the Port Jefferson Station-based developer on the St. James project team were Aleksandar Kociski and Kevin Reim from Bohler Engineering, attorney Anthony Guardino of Farrell Fritz and Joanna Koronios at Alma Bank, which provided the construction loan.
“Developing in this business environment has been difficult given where interest rates and capital markets are for commercial real estate,” said Daniel Scarda, director of Corporate Finance at The Crest Group. “But we continue to see opportunities like this one to develop high-quality projects with incredible financing partners like Alma Bank, who saw the opportunity we did to move when the rest of the market was stalled for new construction projects. We were able to get a first mover advantage in this market for new storage space, and we are confident that will pay off in the long run.”
Scarda credited Town of Smithtown officials, including Supervisor Ed Wehrheim and council members Thomas McCarthy and Thomas Lohmann, who attended the project’s ribbon-cutting, for their assistance and support.
“We have a great working relationship with the staff and town officials in the Town of Smithtown and we truly enjoyed working with them all throughout the development process on this project,” he said. “They deserve a big thank you for all of the energy they put into ensuring that this project was a success. We look forward to developing many more projects with Supervisor Wehrheim’s team and the town staff.”