NEW YORK CITY — Pennsylvania based self-storage REIT CubeSmart (NYSE: CUBE) has entered into an agreement to acquire a portfolio of eight properties in New York City from locally based developer Storage Deluxe for $540 million. The portfolio totals 780,425 net rentable square feet and consists of properties in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx that are already managed by CubeSmart. The deal is expected to close during the fourth quarter. CubeSmart will finance approximately 28 percent ($154.6 million) of the sales price with fixed-rate debt.
NEW YORK CITY — Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. (BREIT) has entered into an agreement to acquire Simply Self Storage from an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management for $1.2 billion. Brookfield acquired Simply Self Storage, whose operating portfolio spans approximately 8 million square feet across the country, in 2016 through one of its funds. The deal is expected to close before the end of the year. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal advisor to BREIT, and BofA Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. are serving as financial advisors to BREIT. RBC Capital Markets LLC, Newmark Group Inc. and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP advised Brookfield. BREIT currently owns a $300 million portfolio of self-storage facilities. Following this acquisition, BREIT will be the third-largest non-listed owner of self-storage in the country. Self-storage, which is typically viewed as a recession-resistant asset class, has seen its rates of absorption and leasing of new units rebound over the summer following a lull in move-in activity that normally occurs in the spring. Self-storage owner-operators expect some of the truncated move-in activity from spring and summer to be offset by the fact that in-person classes at many major universities have …
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Dallas-based design/build firm ARCO/Murray has completed a North Arlington Self Storage, a 937-unit facility. Developed by Cogent Capital, the five-story property spans 100,665 gross square feet and includes an interior drive aisle, detached single-story units and a 900-square-foot sales office. Extra Space Storage will manage the property. ARCO/Murray provided complete design-build services including architectural, structural, MEP design, permitting and construction.
PALM CITY, FLA. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the $14 million sale of Safe & Sound Palm City, an 868-unit self-storage facility in Palm City. The property comprises 78,521 square feet of rentable space on 3.1 acres. The facility includes 216 non-climate-controlled units and 652 climate-controlled units, as well as video surveillance, electronic gates and access to a freight elevator. The asset is situated at 3501 SW Martin Downs Blvd., 11 miles south of downtown Port St. Lucie. Mike Mele and Luke Elliott of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Safe & Sound, in the transaction. A joint venture between two private limited liability companies acquired the property and rebranded it under the CubeSmart brand.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Southern California-based investment firm Greens Global has acquired a 1,152-unit, CubeSmart-branded self-storage facility located at 8023 W. Parmer Lane in Austin. The five-story property was built in 2019 and spans 110,505 square feet. C.W. Sheehan and Alastair Barnes of JLL arranged an undisclosed amount of acquisition financing for the off-market transaction through Happy State Bank. The loan was structured with a five-year term and a fixed interest rate. CSW Development sold the asset for an undisclosed price.
SALEM, ORE. — Los Angeles-based Trojan Storage has acquired Hawthorne Mini Storage in Salem from a private investor for $8.3 million. Nick Walker, Trevor Roberts and Morgan Windbiel of CBRE represented the seller in the deal. Located at 1241 Hawthorne Ave. NE, the 99,435-square-foot property offers 654 self-storage units ranging in size from 25 square feet to 750 square feet. Additionally, the facility features covered RV and boat parking. The property consists of 14 single-story and two-story buildings and features a gated entrance with key-code access, 24-hour video surveillance cameras, climate-controlled units and an on-site manager.
MINNESOTA AND NORTH DAKOTA — The LeClaire-Schlosser Group of Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of the Storage Max Portfolio, a seven-property self-storage portfolio located across Minnesota and North Dakota. The portfolio totals 382 non-climate-controlled units and 48,710 net rentable square feet. Chris Kampmeyer and Adam Schlosser of Marcus & Millichap’s Denver office marketed the portfolio on behalf of the seller, a local limited liability company. Neither the buyer nor the sales price was disclosed.
GOODYEAR, ARIZ. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged the sale of Arizona Storage Center, a self-storage facility located at 18211 W. McDowell Road in Goodyear. FRC Goodyear sold the property to a private investor for an undisclosed price. The 54,976-square-foot property features 424 units, including 175 RV/boat storage spaces. The buyer plans to convert the RV/boat storage area into covered spaces. The property features 59 percent self-storage units and 41 percent RV/boat storage spaces. Paul Boyle and Rick Danis of Cushman & Wakefield’s Self Storage Advisory Group in Phoenix represented the seller in the deal.
CLEARWATER, FLA. — Cedarwood Development has delivered a 585-unit US Storage Centers-branded facility in Clearwater. The self-storage property is situated at 1000 S. Myrtle Ave., 23 miles west of downtown Tampa. Westport Properties Inc. is managing the asset, which features climate-controlled units, passenger elevators, moving carts and drive-up units. The facility comprises 60,000 square feet. This is the first facility in Clearwater for both Fairlawn, Ohio-based Cedarwood Development, which is an affiliate of Cedarwood Cos., and US Storage Centers. US Storage Centers has more than 10 million square feet in its nationwide portfolio.
By Taylor Williams As commercial property types go, self-storage is considered one of the toughest to sink in times of economic hardship. As Texas and the United States enter the eighth full month of the COVID-19 pandemic, this quality is beginning to show through. Natural disasters like floods and hurricanes tend to be windfalls for the asset class, as displacement from homes and damage to commercial properties raise short-term demand for self-storage. A pandemic does not have quite the same effect on the property type, especially when residential landlords in the United States are legally barred from evicting tenants. But for the major self-storage markets of Texas, COVID-19 has generated some positive results. COVID’s impact on self-storage is somewhat similar to Hurricane Harvey’s impact on the Houston multifamily market in 2017, which was also overbuilt and saw an overnight boost in occupancy as a result of the storm cutting into supply. In essence, COVID-19 has served as a mechanism to bring supply-demand balances closer to equilibrium. Because prior to the pandemic, the development pipelines in the major cities of Texas were peaking, creating oversupplied markets that were defined by sluggish rent growth, concessions and high levels of competitions for new …