Cokaliong brood invests P250 million for new venture

CEBU, Philippines — Cokaliong Shipping Lines Inc., scion Chase Cokaliong and his siblings will be pioneering the self-storage service facility in Cebu.

Chase, in partnership with siblings Chesna, Channel and Chaz, invested about P250 million to build a three-storey self-storage facility dubbed as the StorageTown Inc.

Located on Sacris Road, Cabancalan, Mandaue City, the 4,692 square meters building property offers 10,000 square meters of leasable space. Storage spaces as small as two square meters, which can accommodate an estimate of six BalikBayan boxes will be offered for rent to individual customers of companies. Biggest storage space measures up to 90 square meters, which is quoted with initial monthly rate of about P45 thousand a month.

Chase, who serves as vice president for fleet operations and human resource manager at the family’s shipping business for 10 years, said that it is now the right time for Cebu to have a self-storage facility, as it has become an urbanized metropolis.

“We aim to provide clean, secure and affordable space to everyone who needs it,” Chase said adding that StorageTown will have a variety of unit sizes to address different personalities—such as lockers for those who need extra storage for travel items or Christmas decorations, to larger spaces that businesses might need for filing.

The self-storage industry has been around in the 1960s in the United States.

As of 2018, there are over 54,000 self-storage facilities in the US alone, which translates to over 200 million square meters of leasable space. From there, as many cities around the world continue to develop, self-storage has been gaining traction in other countries, specifically in Asia.

The Cokaliong siblings’ venture is the first-of-its-kind in the Visayas and Mindanao, although there has been about 10 self-storage facilities now operating in Metro Manila.

He said this business, which is still unexplored in this side of the country is seen to gain trajectory demand here, as people are embracing the condominium living lifestyle, and the rising number of expats in Cebu.

“Space is becoming a premium, and we hope to address that need by providing storage that’s secure and convenient for our customers,” he said.

The pioneering state-of-the-art self-storage facility is expected to be operational by November of this year.

The new company, held its ceremonial groundbreaking Monday, to mark the start of the facility’s construction.