DXD Capital grand-opened a 105,900-square-foot, 890-unit climate-controlled self-storage facility at 615 Mitchell Street in Richmond, Virginia, on September 15, 2026. Extra Space Storage will manage the three-story property, which DXD calls Richmond's first ground-up, purpose-built Class-A storage delivery since 2018.
The opening completes a three-facility, summer-2025 ground-break portfolio backed by Kuwait Financial Centre Markaz affiliates Mar-Gulf and MDI Capital after Georgetown, Texas, and Sarasota, Florida, opened in April and June 2026.
What Did DXD Deliver in Richmond?
The Richmond site spans 3 acres with 890 climate-controlled units across 105,900 square feet. Evans Construction built the project from SAA Architects plans. DXD emphasizes three levels of drive-up access on a multi-story design, a layout that preserves convenience premiums without single-story sprawl.
Extra Space Storage management puts the asset on the nation's largest operating platform on day one. That mirrors institutional expectations for Class-A product: institutional construction quality plus REIT-grade customer experience.
Scott Hughes, DXD managing director of construction, framed the portfolio logic:
Richmond rounds out this partnership exactly as we envisioned it. Three distinct markets, three tailored solutions, and one consistent standard of execution.
- Scott Hughes, Managing Director of Construction, DXD Capital
Hughes added that the project delivered Richmond's first ground-up Class-A facility since 2018 in one of the city's fastest-growing corridors. Eight years without new Class-A supply is a barrier story, not a demand absence story.
| Richmond facility metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Address | 615 Mitchell Street, Richmond, VA |
| Net rentable SF | 105,900 |
| Units | 890 |
| Stories | 3 |
| Site | 3 acres |
| Climate control | Yes |
| Manager | Extra Space Storage |
| Grand opening | September 15, 2026 |
Why Does the Diamond District Location Matter?
DXD anchored its site narrative on Chamberlayne Parkway, adjacent to Richmond's 67-acre Diamond District redevelopment. CarMax Park, the city's new minor league stadium, anchors a plan that could grow toward 8 million square feet of entertainment, residential, and retail.
Student demand is explicit in the release: Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Union University combine for more than 30,000 enrollment within roughly a mile. Seasonal turn storage is repeatable revenue if operators capture spring and fall move cycles.
That infill thesis differs from exurban land-grab development. Yardi Matrix's July 2026 outlook shows national advertised rates still soft while supply deliveries decelerate. Developers who still break ground in 2026 are choosing constrained corridors, not wide-open Sun Belt farmland.
Richmond also connects to Mid-Atlantic operating trends where Self Storage Plus opened its fifth Virginia location in Bealeton in September 2026. Virginia is absorbing both regional operator expansion and institutional Class-A entrants.
How Does Richmond Complete the Markaz Portfolio?
The three-facility program broke ground in summer 2025:
| Market | Opening | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Georgetown, Texas | April 2026 | First delivery |
| Sarasota, Florida | June 2026 | Second delivery |
| Richmond, Virginia | September 15, 2026 | Final delivery |
Markaz reported total assets under management exceeding KD 1.44 billion (USD 4.67 billion) as of March 31, 2025. The self-storage tranche is tiny relative to the balance sheet, but it shows Gulf institutional capital still pairing with U.S. specialists for niche real estate.
DXD's Sarasota 928-unit grand opening in July 2026 proved the playbook in a Florida market with competing new supply. Richmond tests the same execution standard in a supply-starved infill submarket.
Cross-border capital flows both ways in 2026: Public Storage closed Public Storage Canada for $1.2 billion on September 1 while Markaz-backed development finishes in Virginia and private buyers still close Texas drive-up trades like Crowley Space Station. Global capital is not retreating from storage; it is picking lanes.
What Does Extra Space Management Signal for Lease-Up?
Third-party management on day one tells you how DXD underwrites exit and stabilization. Extra Space brings pricing systems, call center scale, and brand trust that private developers rarely match on first-generation assets.
The trade-off is fee drag versus speed. In a market without Class-A supply since 2018, speed to stabilized occupancy may outweigh margin on management fees. Extra Space's Q2 2026 earnings showed same-store revenue up 2.4% and NOI up 3.5% with occupancy at 94.2%, per public filings summarized in trade press.
Richmond lease-up will still face the national move-in versus move-out rent gap Yardi Matrix highlights: move-in rents roughly 40% below move-out rents in 2026 stabilization data cited by Scotsman Guide in September. Class-A product does not exempt operators from promotional web pricing.
DXD's proprietary site selection tools target demand-supply imbalance and high barriers. Richmond's eight-year Class-A drought is exactly that profile.
The Numbers Worth Writing Down
- Richmond net rentable square feet: 105,900
- Units: 890
- Site size: 3 acres
- Grand opening date: September 15, 2026
- Prior Richmond ground-up Class-A gap: since 2018, per DXD
- Combined nearby university enrollment: 30,000+
- Diamond District planned scale: up to 8 million SF mixed-use, per DXD release
- Portfolio deliveries in 2026: 3 (Georgetown, Sarasota, Richmond)
- Markaz AUM (March 31, 2025): KD 1.44 billion / USD 4.67 billion
- National under-construction share (July 2026): 2.1%, Yardi Matrix
Infill Class-A Is the 2026 Development Bet
DXD Capital's Richmond opening is not a sector recovery call. It is a supply-gap call in a corridor with student, residential, and entertainment demand stacking simultaneously. Finishing the Markaz trio on schedule in a year when trepp CMBS watchlists still flag storage stress shows selective development still clears capital committees.
Operators in oversupplied Sun Belt metros should not read Richmond as permission to build everywhere. They should read it as proof that entitled, infill, institutionally managed Class-A still gets funded while generic suburban pipelines shrink.
Sources
- DXD Capital Announces Grand Opening of New Class-A Self-Storage Facility in Richmond, Virginia, EIN Presswire / DXD Capital, September 15, 2026
- DXD Capital Sarasota Grand Opening, Your CAIO
- Self-Storage Sector Stabilizes Q2 2026, Your CAIO
- Public Storage Canada Acquisition Closes, Your CAIO
- Self Storage Market Outlook, Yardi Matrix, August 2026