About Safstor
Market & Site Selection Criteria
How it works
Our Team
Chris Fletcher
CEO
Chris Fletcher is the Chief Executive Officer of SAFStor. In this role he is responsible for the strategic direction and operational oversite of the company, with a particular focus on investment oversight, risk management, and capital raising. Prior to joining SAFStor Chris was an Executive Vice President at Cortland, the fifth largest owner of multifamily communities in the nation. In this role he led the firm’s development division, overseeing the construction of just under 4,000 units at a cost of more than $1 billion. Before joining Cortland, Chris was a development manager at Landmark Properties, the nation’s largest developer of purpose-built student housing, and an associate at TriBridge Residential, an institutional investor focused on multifamily acquisitions and development throughout the Southeast. Chris is a former calvary officer, in the Georgia Army National Guard, where he achieved the rank of Captain. He holds a Masters of Business Administration in statistics and real estate from the Wharton School, where he graduated with Honors, and a Bachelor of Arts in public policy from Duke University.
Andrew Young
Founder & Chairman
Andrew is Founder and Chairman of SAFStor, among the most active developers of institutional-grade self-storage facilities in the United States. Prior to founding SAFStor, Andrew was an Executive Vice President for Landmark Properties, Inc., the #1 developer of purpose-built student housing. Over a 5- and 10-year period respectively, Andrew’s efforts resulted in $1.9+ and $2.7+ billion of urban, mixed-use student assets across the United States, including retail, hotel and office. Before joining Landmark, Andrew was Senior Vice President of Investments and General Counsel for Campus Crest Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCG), then the nation’s second largest student housing REIT. Prior to joining Campus Crest, Andrew managed the acquisitions and development arm for Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. (NYSE: CTO), a diversified real estate investment company focused on the retail, office, industrial and land sectors. Prior to entering the real estate industry, Mr. Young was a Vice President in the Global Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C). Andrew holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, and is a member in good standing with the Florida Bar Association. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences, is a guest speaker at the University of Florida Warrington School of Business and sits on the board of Easterseals Northeast Central Florida.
Ken Etterman
Managing Director of Capital Markets
Ken has been actively involved in real estate finance and development since 1991. He began a banking career with a predecessor of Bank of America and progressed to a senior banker role in the real estate finance group of Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo). Mr. Etterman left Wachovia in 2006 to found Redfish Capital Advisors (RCA), a boutique real estate finance and development consulting firm serving real estate developers and investors in the underwriting, financial modeling, and capitalization of real estate assets (development, acquisition, refinancing, repositioning). From 2008-2016 Ken broadened his role with his client, Campus Crest Communities, serving as the Managing Director of Capital Markets (the company went public in 2010 and was purchased by a private equity group in 2016, Ken served the senior management of the company through the closing of the acquisition). Since forming RCA, Mr. Etterman has been involved in over $2.0 billion in construction, permanent, and corporate financings and has provided underwriting and advisory support for projects with a combined asset value in excess of $2.7 billion. Mr. Etterman earned a BS in Finance from Florida State University, an MBA from Western Carolina University, and holds the CCIM designation.
Chris Russ
Managing Director of Development
Prior to starting his own development company, CR Development Partners, and joining SAFSTOR as Director of Development, Chris served as Senior Vice President of Development with Valeo Groupe Americas, leading their development team with a focus in the student living and senior housing spaces. Chris joined Valeo from CA Ventures/Anthology Senior Living (CA), where he was responsible for the development, design, and entitlement of more than 20 senior housing communities across the country worth over $750 million. Prior to CA, he served as Vice President of Land Development & Entitlement for Campus Crest alongside many of the current SAFSTOR team and consultants. There he had a hand in the nationwide development of over 55 student living communities worth over $1.4 billion. Chris began his career as a civil engineer, designing an array of commercial and residential projects, working towards his Professional Engineering (PE) license. After earning his PE license in 2005, he continued work in the design field for a few years until transitioning into real estate development.
Paul Straits
Vice President of Construction
Paul leads construction initiatives at SAFStor with a focus on pipeline optimization through schedule synergies and streamlined predictive cost analyses. He began his career managing construction projects for the LG Group in Chicago’s high-demand hospitality sector, contributing over 100,000 square feet to the city’s fine dining landscape. In 2019, Paul joined ARCO/Murray Design Build and oversaw the design and development efforts for Topgolf projects across the country. He then led the creation of the tenant-improvement arm of the company’s Preconstruction division where he managed nationwide rollouts of new entertainment and hospitality concepts, creating pipeline development strategies for clients and preparing projects for successful construction. Paul holds a Master of Business Administration in Real Estate, a Master of Architecture, and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Erik Peterson
Vice President of Asset Management
Erik is an experienced finance and asset management professional with over a decade of success across private equity, real estate, and management consulting. Before joining SAFStor, Erik was a Director at SROA Capital, one of the largest privately held, vertically integrated self-storage operators in the United States. In that role, he focused on revenue and asset management for a $2B portfolio spanning 33 million square feet across 35 states. He led strategic initiatives, developed advanced pricing and forecasting models, and applied efficiency analysis and data-driven insights to enhance portfolio performance and investor returns. Earlier in his career, Erik spent several years with Accenture, where he led pricing strategy and financial analysis initiatives for Fortune 500 clients across North America. Erik earned his MBA with a concentration in Analytics from Auburn University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Bentley University, where he captained the NCAA Division I men’s hockey team.