Hunt Midwest sets sights on KC

Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development, Inc. is expanding into self storage with the development of four StorTropolis self storage facilities in the Kansas City metro area. Two of the four locations have opened in the last quarter.

The first is StorTropolis Shawnee, a climate-controlled facility with 580 units and 30 enclosed units sized for boats or RVs at the intersection of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Martindale Road. Also open is StorTropolis Brighton, located at the northwest corner of Brighton and Missouri Highway 152. The facility has 681 climate-controlled units and 15 enclosed RV units.

A third location, StorTropolis Tiffany Springs will open in early summer, at the northeast corner Missouri Highway 152 and I-29 in Kansas City, Missouri. The fourth location, StorTropolis Blue Springs will break ground this summer with an opening in 2020.

Hunt Midwest plans to expand the StorTropolis platform throughout the Midwest.

Hunt Midwest is a privately held real estate development company based in Kansas City with holdings in industrial, commercial, mission critical, self storage, residential, multifamily, senior living, mixed use and SubTropolis, the world’s largest underground business complex.

KeyBank helps SmartStop arrange financing

A SmartStop Self Storage portfolio, totaling 39 facilities in 12 different states, has secured $221.5 million in financing. KeyBank arranged the financing for three loans, which were provided in two separate transactions.

A $90 million, non-recourse loan was secured by 29 SmartStop storage assets, which encompass a total of 17,283 units situated in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. The floating-rate loan, structured with a five-year interest-only term, will be used to refinance existing debt. An additional $27.5 million mezzanine loan was provided to the sponsor.

The second transaction includes a $104 million, non-recourse loan, secured by 10 SmartStop self storage properties totaling 6,898 storage spaces, located in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada and South Carolina. The 10-year, interest only, fixed-rate loan will also be used to refinance existing debt.

Senior vice president Randy Martin of KeyBank’s Commercial Mortgage Group arranged the financing.

DAUM helps Westport gain LA site

Irvine, California-based Westport Properties plans to develop a three-story, 152,000-square foot self storage facility on 2.2 acres of land in the Eastside submarket of Los Angeles.

DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services vice president James Vu and vice chairman Michael Collins represented the private seller of the parcel, who previously operated a metal and plumbing business at the location. The land sold for $5.4 million and is located at 4800-4830 Valley Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Westport Properties recently completed a self storage facility development at 2500 W. Hellman Ave, Alhambra, and is currently underway on an additional development at 1901 W. El Segundo Blvd, Compton.

Founded in 1904, DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services is a leading provider of commercial real estate services including brokerage, tenant representation, consulting, leasing, sales and property management.

StorageMart expands customer communication options

StorageMart, based out of Columbia, MO, is expanding its customer service center hours to better serve its customers. The customer service center has plans to expand its services to include chat and two-way text, allowing customers the freedom to communicate in whatever format they are most comfortable with.

“Time and again, our customers say the interactions they have with StorageMart set us apart,” said Lucia Darnell, Sales Resource Director at StorageMart. 

The 40-person team now handles an average of 30,000 calls per month in peak times, with a goal of solving every customer’s question or problem in the first call.

StorageMart is the largest privately-owned, family operated storage company in the world.

SmartCentres adds two in JV with SmartStop

SmartCentres has added two more self storage developments to its joint venture with SmartStop, bringing the total to six. The new sites are in Brampton and Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.

The 1.5-acre Brampton site on Main Street will include four stories comprising 93,500 rentable square feet in 950 units. The project will break ground in early 2021.

The 1.2-acre parcel in Scarborough is at the intersection of Highway 401 and Morningside Avenue. The five-story facility will comprise 88,000 rentable square feet in 900 units. It is expected to break ground next year.

The partnership currently has developments underway in the neighborhood of Leaside in Ontario, as well as in Brampton, Oshawa and Vaughan.

North Star buys AR facility

North Star J LLC has purchased a facility at 804 S.E. J Street in Bentonville, Arkansas, according to Talk Business.net.

North Star purchased the facility from Self Storage Capital Partners, a Philadelphia-based self storage firm operating under the name Snapbox Self Storage.

Talonvest provides market updates

Talonvest Capital Markets provided notable updates over the past month to capital markets.

Banks and life companies have been competing with CMBS lenders for the same low leverage loans by offering attractive pricing in the low 4 percent range, including 1 to 3 years of interest only.

CMBS lenders are still more competitive than bank and life companies when it comes to providing full term interest-only fixed rate loans. 

1784 Capital initiates 2 projects

1784 Capital Holdings, LLC, has purchased 1.31 acres in Hawthorne, California, to develop a new self storage facility and has begun work on another project in Scottsdale Arizona.

In Hawthorne, 1784 purchased a site at 3155 W. El Segundo Blvd. where it will build a three-story above ground and one below ground facility totaling 120,510 square feet. Completion of the project is planned for first quarter 2020.

In Scottsdale, 1784 Capital Holdings has begun work on its Scottsdale Promenade Self Storage project at 7550 E. Paradise Lane. The project is scheduled for completion a year from now.

The three-story story facility with another floor below ground will contain 101,305 net rentable square feet on 2.52 acres in the master-planned development. 

VA town considers storage for peak site

A developer has proposed three-story self storage facility on a hillside tract in Roanoke, Virginia, according to The Roanoke Times.

Venture Storage Group LLC of North Carolina wants to build a 105,000-square-foot facility in South Peak on US 220.

The project requires a special-use permit from Roanoke County. Because of the location’s high visibility, the Roanoke County Planning Commission voted 4-to-1 to oppose the permit request. The board of supervisors is set to vote next.

Right Move to manage 2 more

Right Move Storage, LLC, headquartered in Houston, Texas, has been awarded the management and leasing of a 1,052 unit class A self storage portfolio consisting of two properties located in Galveston and Texas City, Texas. LandPark Advisors, LLC, an affiliate of Right Move Storage, will oversee operations and provide advisory services. The properties are owned and developed by Jerome M. Karam, owner of JMK5 Holdings.

Both properties are currently in the final phases of construction. The 50,008 square foot property in Galveston will be assigned management in April 2019, and the 63,675 square foot property in Texas City will be assigned management in March 2019. This brings the total number of units under management by Right Move Storage to 9,250 and the total managed square footage to over 1,393,000.