For owners of high-end luxury automobiles, finding a safe, warm place for their prized possessions is a bit like purchasing a home for one of their children. After all, in their eyes, these rare cars are often treated as part of the family.
This was the motivation for local businessman Blake Henderson when he decided to turn a commercial business plaza on John Clarke Road into luxury units to store vehicles. The Newport Car Vaults facility will contain 30 individual units, each with a half-bath and an “office loft,” according to the design documents.
Billed as part of “the latest trend in luxury car storage,” the units have already been put on the market through Newport-based Vanderbilt International Properties, ranging in price from $325,000 for 1,000 square feet to $795,00 for 2,000- and 3,000-square-foot suites that feature a double-mezzanine and water views.
Stacie Mills, principal broker with Vanderbilt International Properties, said there has been significant interest in the units. Though what is being sold is, for the time being, just a photographic rendering, with construction set to begin next year, there are already 10 units under contract.
“I anticipate that we will continue to see activity as the word gets out,” she said. “It is kind of a small world, car-centric [culture]. So once one [unit] is sold, usually several follow.”
Mills was on her way to meet a potential buyer on Nov. 15, the owner of a rare Jeep that was inspired by a classic Hollywood film and auctioned off for charity. “He wanted to have his open-air Jeep to drive around in Newport,” she said.
A tentative move-in date for unit owners is set for October 2022 after the first phase of construction, said Mills. The suites should be ready by March 2023. Owners will join a collective condominium association similar to residential developments, and will have 24- hour access to their units. There are plans for heated floors within the units and a common area with recreational offerings.
While the association agreements are still being worked out, Mills said they would likely involve owners insuring their units from “the studs in,” while the communal areas will have a separate building insurance policy.
Mills said the majority of interested buyers are looking for a safe place to store their prized vehicles, though a few have expressed interest in purchasing a unit as an investment and leasing it out.
Clients own a range of vehicles, from classic Porsches to vintage motorcars. “It’s amazing what some collectors have,” Mills said. “Once they get a taste for [collecting], they really want to see more.”
Newport was the site of the inaugural Vanderbilt Cup in 1900, widely considered to be the first American car race. There have been two classic car museums established in the last five years; the Audrain Automobile Museum on Bellevue Avenue and the Newport Car Museum in Portsmouth, both of which opened in 2017.
But for many private owners of these moveable treasures, the options for storage have been limited. With values in the hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, this collector subculture in other regions has usually brought with it the proliferation of private, secured facilities.
“We are seeing more and more of these car collectors coming into town. So, this makes a lot of sense,” Mills said. “[These units] are becoming more popular.”
The team behind Newport Car Vaults is promising state-of-the-art amenities. Jairo Rugel, president of Newport County Computers, the company charged with outfitting the facility with digital smart home technology, said that owners will be provided with a menu of additions to the baseline infrastructure.
“The units are going to be a home-away-from-home for many of the owners,” he said. “We’ve got smart lighting, climate control, voice, data [storage] and security camera systems. The whole building is going to be wired.”
All of this is meant to give the car collectors peace of mind, he said.
“If you have a million-dollar Lamborghini sitting inside a garage, you are going to want to know that it is well taken care of,” he said.
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