Luxury auto storage features country club for exotic car owners

The final phase of construction on a storage facility for luxury cars and country club for their owners is underway in Westlake Village.

Finish Line Auto Storage is owned by father and son Rick and Tony Principe, CEO and president, respectively, of Westcord Commercial Real Estate Services.

Spanning 80,000 square feet and five acres, Finish Line opened its first phase in 2017 and all 17 units sold out in three weeks. The final phase is 90 percent pre-sold with only one of the 12 units under construction remaining.

“It’s really what you’d consider a luxury,” said Michael Leventhal, a customer who stores nine cars, mainly Ferraris and Porsches, at the Westlake Village facility. “It takes a totally different concept when you think of storage, because storage is just bare space and lighting. This is really luxury storage.”

Finish Line offers car collectors 1,500 to 4,000 square feet in spaces with high ceilings, as well as separate power and utilities. Car owners purchase the spaces and can customize them.

The facility is highly secured with card key access to the security gates and common areas, security cameras and alarm systems.

Leventhal and his wife Kathy travel from Beverly Hills to Westlake Village about three times a week to take the cars for a drive in a canyon not too far outside of the city.

“Originally, I didn’t want to drive the 34 miles from Beverly Hills to Westlake Village — until I realized, once I got out there, that there are canyons that are beautiful to drive through,” Leventhal said. “The roads in the Westlake Village area are sensational and give us more opportunity to actually drive the cars in the canyons, which we could not do from Beverly Hills.”

Great lighting, beautiful furniture and spaces to showcase books on the history of their cars are all features of Finish Line the couple said they enjoy.

Another unique factor is the social aspect involved in sharing a space with other car junkies.

The Leventhals often meet old friends or develop new acquaintances at the facility’s clubhouse, which includes a bar, poker and pool tables and wine storage lockers. Other amenities include a covered outdoor patio and an area dedicated for car washing and detailing. The club house also hosts events for members.

Eric Sander, a technician at GTO Engineering in Los Angeles, which specializes in vintage Ferraris, said he has several customers who own Finish Line spaces. It not only provides them with secure storage, but also allows them to access their cars anytime they want.

Some of Sander’s customers have half a dozen cars in their collection with space for only two to four in their garage. Many choose to store their cars with neighbors or friends, but he said Finish Line offers a convenient alternative.

Although Principe declined to give out project costs and revenue, he said the venture has been a success in terms of consumer interest.

The Principes, both avid car owners, identified a market for luxury car storage as they struggled to find ideal places to park their vehicles.

“I was personally renting an indoor storage facility, where other people would have to take and drive and park (the vehicle) and had access to vehicle,” Tony Principe said.

They bought a space in Calabasas and made plans, which are still underway, to develop a luxury car storage facility there. During the four years they’ve spent processing entitlements in Calabasas, Principe said they were able to move more quickly in Westlake Village. They purchased a single-tenant Volkswagen building and completed significant renovations to develop the Finish Line facility.

Finish Line also has a storage space in Thousand Oaks and continues to look at adding locations in Southern California and Santa Barbara County, although Principe said “some counties and cities have a hard time digesting” the idea.

•Contact Annabelle Blair at ablair@pacbiztimes.com.