HOUSTON – Houston-based broker Aaron Swerdlin of NGKF Capital Markets has handled the sale of 30 mini-storage facilities for $242.5 million on behalf of Michigan-based Storage Pros Management LLC.
The portfolio amounts to more than 2.4 million square feet, including nearly 600,000 square feet of boat/RV/vehicle parking, and encompasses 37 assets total: 17 in Michigan, 10 in Tennessee, 7 in Massachusetts, and 3 in Florida. The properties were purchased by a joint venture led by an institutional investment firm, and will be managed by a publicly-traded REIT.
In the second leg of the deal, another seven properties are due to close during the first quarter of 2016.
NGKF Capital Markets professionals Aaron Swerdlin, executive managing director, and Kenneth Cox, senior managing director, led the national capital markets team representing Storage Pros.
“This transaction is one of the largest this year in the self storage industry and further solidifies the big-transaction trend of the last several years,” said Swerdlin. “Based upon the institutional quality of the assets and the geographic concentration, located throughout Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee and Florida, the timing was right to market these assets and maximize the value of the self-storage portfolio that Storage Pros had assembled in recent years.”
Swerdlin has focused on self-storage since 1993 and he has handled more than $5.4 billion in mini-storage transactions over the years. He formerly worked for CBRE and HFF.
Swerdlin and Cox head NGKF Capital Markets’ Self Storage Group. The team has completed more than $300 million in transaction volume year-to-date and nearly $600 million in the last 12 months. The group provides clients with a single-source solution for every phase of a self-storage transaction, from strategic planning, value enhancement, pre-marketing consulting and operations analysis to dispositions, debt placement, proprietary lending and equity assignments.
“Interest in the portfolio was profound and there was a wide pool of potential purchasers, from existing storage operators, to private equity funds to public REITs,” added Cox. “The storage industry in particular is very appealing to the institutional community as investor confidence increases.”
After the closing of the remaining seven assets, Storage Pros will still own 14 properties.