NEW YORK CITY AND AUSTIN, TEXAS — CBRE Investment Management and facility operator William Warren Group have acquired a 64-property self-storage portfolio for $588 million. Austin-based World Class Holdings was the seller.
The self-storage portfolio includes over 4.1 million rentable square feet across 10 states including Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Colorado, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Indiana, New York and Nevada. The properties include a total of 28,601 units.
The self-storage properties will now operate under the StorQuest brand. The facilities were previously operated by Great Value Storage. The assets are primarily single-story drive-up units. The portfolio was 82 percent leased at the time of sale.
“We expect these assets to add significant value to our investment stack given the high demand for self-storage facilities across multiple markets and end-users amid the pandemic,” says Justin Shanahan, deputy portfolio manager for CBRE Investment Management. “This specific portfolio offered a unique opportunity to acquire a diverse collection of facilities in various states that have strong population demographics. We believe that the portfolio is well-positioned to continue its robust leasing momentum and yield long-term profitability.”
With this transaction, CBRE Investment Management, a New York City-based global real estate assets investment management firm and affiliate of Dallas-based CBRE Group Inc., now owns 83 self-storage properties in the United States, with a total of 42,255 units.
The demand for self-storage space has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to CBRE’s research, 41 percent of investors indicate that they are pursuing investments in self-storage this year.
Nate Paul, chairman and CEO of World Class, says his firm plans to continue to invest in the self-storage sector.
“We have been long-term investors in self-storage since entering the industry nearly 15 years ago,” says Paul. “The sale of this mature portfolio of assets to CBRE and William Warren Group presented us the opportunity to capitalize on that foresight, monetize our value-creation strategy, and achieve a highly favorable realization of our investment.”
The self-storage acquisition is among the largest-ever private transactions in the self-storage sector, according to World Class Holdings. The sale did not include any of Paul’s facilities in California and any of the firm’s new self-storage developments and conversions nationally.
— Julia Sanders