On this podcast episode, Jason Yarusi sits down with Scott Krone, a Chicago native whose career in architecture began in 1991 by pursuing his Masters of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology.  While obtaining his degree, he also worked as a Project Manager for Optima, Inc.  During his time at Optima, Krone’s responsibilities included such notable projects as the 400 unit Cormandel in Deerfield, IL, the 40 unit HedgeRow in Winnetka, IL, and the 51 unit Optima Center Wilmette in Wilmette, IL.

In 2012, Krone founded Coda Management Group – a firm who specializes in managing real estate assets.  Since its inception, Coda has manages a wide range of real estate including single and multi-family homes, retail, commercial warehouse and self-storage and multi-use flex athletic spaces.  Currently, the platform of investments is in excess of $55 million.

In 1998, Krone founded Coda, an award winning Design + Build | Sustainability | Consulting firm.  Since its inception, Coda has won numerous design/build awards including the international Green GOOD Design Award in 2010, Best of Houzz 2014 and 2015, and Design Evanston Award.  Their work has been featured in notable publications as Dream Homes - Chicago, Midwest Luxury Homes, Crate & Barrel 2010 Best Catalogs, NBC TV Show Taste, and national ACE Hardware Commercials.  

In addition, Krone has authored High Performance Homes – Navigating the Green Road to Your Dream Home, a book for homeowner’s seeking to incorporate green technology into their home.

Krone resides in Wilmette, IL, with his wife and three children.

Some key takeaways from the interview include:

• Scott's pinnacle point from moving into storage facilities and away from multi-family buying
• What makes the conversion process that much more buyable than the ground up in terms of being able to maximize space
• Metrics that Scott looks forward to, to show that the market is or isn't meeting demand
• Whether or not there's opportunities to find space in predominantly areas that were oversaturated with retail and office space that maybe you can use for this conversion process (thanks to COVID)
• Mistakes that are commonly made when people go into self storage investing

Listen to the full interview and read the complete show notes here!

In this episode, John Casmon sits down with Scott Krone who is the Founder of CODA Management based in Chicago, IL. They partner with investors to find and convert warehouses and office buildings into climate-controlled, self-storage facilities. CODA has over 47 syndications and 400,000 sq. ft with 2,750 storage units under management. Today, Scott shares where he finds opportunities, his criteria and tips for working with local officials.

Some key takeaways from the interview include:

• Could not find distressed self-storage, so he focused on development
• Converted an empty warehouse into a self-storage
• Started in Chicago, expanded to Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio
• Future opportunities in Kentucky, Michigan and North Carolina
• Seeks 70,000 - 110,000 sq. ft of empty commercial spaces
• PACE Financing and Opportunity Zones
• Hire CubeSmart to manage the renovated self-storage facilities
• Biggest risk for self-storage is competition within a 3-5 mile radius
• Key Stat for Self-Storage: 7 sq. ft of lockers per capita
• Commercial and Resident Users for Self-Storage
• Check with city officials on zoning process, permits and approvals
• Leverages PACE Financing and was the first opportunity zone and PACE financing in Ohio
• PACE is a program providing energy efficiency financing
• Opportunity Zones are an enhanced benefit, not as the reason to buy
• Drive for subcontractors on projects when you need specific labor

Listen to the full interview and read the complete show notes here!

In this episode, Seth Ferguson meets with Scott Krone who hailed from Chicago and started his architecture career in 1991. He pursued his Masters of Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology. While finishing up his studies, he worked as a Project Manager for Optima.

He founded Coda, an award-winning Design + Build | Sustainability | Consulting firm, and has won numerous awards.

In 2012, Scott Krone also founded Coda Management Group which focuses on managing real estate assets. Coda manages single and multi-family homes and a whole lot more.

Some key takeaways from the interview include:

• What are his goals and where is he currently at it now
• When and how did his design-build firm and fund all start
• What experience has led him into fund management
• What preparations does he make when anticipating a recession
• What routines and rituals have he developed that made him successful today
• What is his keystone deal
• What made him decide that he need to take his business to the next level 

Listen to the full interview and read the complete show notes here!

In this episode, Paul Moore meets with Scott Krone to discuss the four different paths someone can go down when investing in self-storage.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• Learn about the different classes of self storage
• Learn about the current landscape of self storage during the pandemic
• How self storage performs better in a downturn
• Managing risk within the space

Listen to the full interview here!

In this episode, listen to Joe Fairless and Scott Krone discuss how to leverage capital stack in a conservative manner, but help yield good trajectory returns for investors. 

Some key insights of this episode include:

• When Scott made his pivot away from multi family into self storage and why
• Why efficiency is the most important thing
• Scott's exact process for identifying if a location is suitable for a new project
• Looking at immediate income vs other demographics to decide what type of locker to put in
• How Scott got his latest project in Milwaukee on the National Park registry
• Finding the barriers to entry in the market place and identifying how much resistance there is to the product
• Looking at all case scenarios and seeing if weathering the "worst case" is viable
• Where you can find Scott giving his latest advice and insider tips online
   

Listen to the full episode and read the show notes here!

In this episode, Scott Krone joins Brian Hamrick, host of the Rental Property Owner & Real Estate Investor Podcast where they discuss the adaptive re-use of commercial space and how it can be turned into an asset class that is very attractive and extremely profitable.

Scott Krone is the managing partner of Coda Management Group, a company that teams up with investors to purchase and convert undervalued warehouse space into climate-controlled self-storage facilities. Scott has a Masters of Architecture degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and he's created 47 syndications and has over 400,000 sq. ft. and 2,759 storage units under management, along with over 25 years of development and design-build experience.

Scott shares the process he goes through in converting old warehouse space to self-storage, including his typical costs per sq. ft. for acquisition, construction, and soft costs. He discusses the financing that's available for these projects and how Coda builds and sells their developments to REITS.

Scott and Brian discuss the importance of mentors, whatever happened to the original 'Lincoln Log' factory in Chicago, and how he uses personality profiling techniques to build his team and understand his clients better.

Some key takeaways from the interview include:

• Things to look for when purchasing a property:
  • Demographic: hire a feasibility consultant
  • Size: look at the size that the end buyer wants
  • Zoning: If your cost structure is lower than your competitors, it gives you more flexibility in the pricing.
• The more open and flexible the space is, the greater ability we have to put functional units.
• Look to maximize the investor's rate of return.
• PACE financing is through the department of energy. If you are using green energy and it can be paid out through the property taxes.
• Structure your debt so it’s interest only and through the interest reserve.
• If there is too much product in a market place, that will impact your pricing. Know where you stand in the supply and demand.
• Take education from outside businesses and apply them to your company.
• Ask yourself and your business, are you solving a problem.
   

Listen to the full interview and read the complete show notes here!

Danny Johnson of Flipping Junkie was joined by Scott Krone, Founder of CODA Management that teams up investors to purchase undervalued warehouse space and convert it into climate controlled, self-storage facilities that are managed by a top 3 operator. In this episode, Scott shares with us what he considers to be the most valuable lessons he’s learned throughout his career. He begins by advising “develop a strong team,” and explains how he relies on a strong team of brokers, contractors, lenders, and more to be able to keep everything running smoothly.

Some key takeaways from the interview include:

• You need to develop strong team. The longer you’re in the industry, the more you’ll depend on the team.
• Focus on developing each aspects of your team.
• Use a wide range of resources to find properties.
• Figure out if it is a good time to be in the market.
• You can make “real money” in development, changing the use of the property.
• Go in to markets that are not over saturated. Hire feasibility consultants to get the demographics of the area you are interested in.

Listen to the full interview and read the complete show notes here!