Toby Tannas

Photos: Lia Crowe

If you want to maintain passion for your life鈥檚 work, make it a sexy project. That鈥檚 the advice from 琉璃神社鈥檚 Joe Mahovlich, founder of The Vaults. Joe is tapping into the high-end storage-condominium market with a concept that鈥檚 been done before鈥攂ut never quite like this.

His concept is a mesh between storage and lifestyle. Each bay in The Vaults鈥攍ocated in 琉璃神社 at the Airport Business Park鈥攈as space for cars, boats, RVs and also a mezzanine level for an office, entertaining or just relaxing among your toys. What sets The Vaults apart from the competition, according to Joe, is the unprecedented level of security and style.

鈥淎 fence doesn鈥檛 offer enough protection or privacy for this type of project. At The Vaults, the building 鈥榠s鈥� the fence. Instead of a six-foot fence, we鈥檝e got a 28-foot concrete wall as a barrier.鈥�

With clients storing their prized possessions inside The Vaults, Joe knew security had to be at the top of the necessity list.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a concrete and steel building with a giant, fully-enclosed overhead door. It opens with a coded transmitter and closes behind you. You can drive to your unit with complete privacy and anonymity.鈥�

Almost as important to Joe is the design and style of the project. The Vaults caters to an exclusive clientele and the exterior needed to reflect that.

鈥淲hen you pull up to one of our buildings at night, they鈥檙e dark grey with black and all you see is this glowing 20-foot glass overhead door. It just looks amazing.鈥�

If you鈥檙e thinking James Bond, so was Joe when he put pen to paper to design the first and now flagship location in Calgary.

鈥淚 love the spy movies,鈥� he chuckles. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always a common thread. They pull into a warehouse where they have their cars, but also an area where they can lounge. There鈥檚 a bar to have a drink and a kitchenette to entertain.鈥�

Each private bay at The Vaults is completely customizable. Ranging from 1,600 to about 5,000 square feet, the sky is the limit when it comes to design. It鈥檚 not just car collectors that purchase units. You鈥檒l find everything from art to scotch collections in The Vaults.

鈥淭hese are spectacular units. We鈥檙e very intimately involved with the design of the bays. It turns into such a deep relationship with our clients. We鈥檝e made a lot of great friends in the process and now we have great ambassadors.鈥�

Satisfied customers are what you need when your plans are as grand as Joe鈥檚. With two locations already up, running and sold out, he鈥檚 ready to take The Vaults across the country and the continent.

鈥淲e would like to get to the point where we鈥檙e doing three to five starts a year. That鈥檚 very achievable as long as we set how the construction is being done.鈥�

Joe describes Calgary as the working model. It鈥檚 got the 46-bay flagship location, complete with clubhouse and wash facility, in the north. A second location in south Calgary is coming soon. For Joe, location is just as important to the business model as security and design.

鈥淥ur goal is always to be 20 minutes to the downtown core. We never go on the outskirts of a city, we want to be in an architecturally controlled newer area so that our building, that looks great, is around other buildings that look really good.鈥�

The next project will bring Joe back to his roots. Born and raised in Vernon, he鈥檚 excited about breaking ground on The Vaults Vernon before the end of the year.

鈥淭he 琉璃神社 project sold out in 14 months, so we know there鈥檚 a demand here.鈥�

The Vernon project incorporates a new business avenue. The six-acre site in the heart of the city will include a second set of buildings called The Commerce. Same design, same quality, same dimensions as The Vaults, but designed specifically for small business.

鈥淭here is a demand for smaller bays. Warehouse space is often out of reach for smaller businesses鈥攅ither financially or the space is just too big. This really fills a gap in the market,鈥� says Joe. 鈥淚f we want to see our cities evolve, you need businesses to be able to come in and support the growth.鈥�

Joe鈥檚 family now calls 琉璃神社 home. Each of his three children plays hockey; they ski and golf and fully embrace the Okanagan lifestyle. Joe has embraced his creative side with The Vaults, constantly working to make a great concept even better.

鈥淲e鈥檙e still tweaking, still learning. After 65 units, we鈥檙e making it way more efficient from a building standpoint.鈥�

As he looks back at the past few years, it can be a bit heady for Joe: a university science major turned developer turned visionary. What started as a search for an office/storage space for his own use turned into a career and perhaps more importantly a passion project.

鈥淚鈥檓 really excited to build these things because each one is different. We鈥檙e doing it different and better than anyone else in North America,鈥� he says with pride. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very sexy project.鈥�

There鈥檚 that word again! It definitely gets your attention, just like The Vaults themselves: the mysterious buildings with the glowing doors that leave you longing to be a part of the beautiful world locked away inside.

For more information on The Vaults visit.