ARCO/Murray completes NJ store

 

ARCO/Murray has completed a 145,800 square-foot self storage facility in Hillside, New Jersey. The new, six-story, CubeSmart-branded facility is fully climate controlled and includes a 1,200 square-foot sales office. ARCO/Murray provided complete design-build services including architectural, structural, MEP design, permitting, and construction. ARCO/Murray’s Tyler Jones was the project manager and David Rogers served as the project superintendent.

ARCO/Murray Design Build is a national design build general contractor with over 25 years of experience.

 

Hanrahan to lead investment platform

 

The Beverly Park Group, an investment platform focused on real estate assets including self storage, has named James Hanrahan as a managing principal. In this role, Hanrahan will focus on developing the company’s self storage portfolio.

Hanrahan has more than 20 years of real estate investment experience and has participated in the acquisition and disposition of more than 250 self storage facilities. He’s a co-founder of RHW Capital Management Group, which operates the Store Here Self Storage brand.

Hanrahan began his career with Public Storage Inc. He was also a director and investor for A-American Self Storage, and then director of operations for Platinum Storage Group.

Hanrahan served five years on the board of directors for the California Self Storage Association.

 

Marcus & Millichap brokers deal in CO, CA and TX

 

Marcus & Millichap has closed the following self storage deals:

The LeClaire Group brokered the sale of International Self Storage, a 17,905-square-foot storage facility located in Highland, California. International Self-Storage consists of 172 non-climate controlled drive-up units. Keith Phillips, investment associate in the Encino, California office, secured the buyer, a local investment company.  The seller represented himself in the deal.

The LeClaire Group also brokered the sale of South Bank Secure Storage, a 60,020 square foot self storage facility located in Rifle, Colorado. South Bank has a total of 376 storage units and 218 outdoor parking spaces. The property was expanded in 2018. Adam Schlosser, senior vice president investments, and Charles "Chico" LeClaire, executive managing director investments, in the Denver, Colorado office had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a local private owner. 

Finally, the Karr Self-Storage Team brokered the sale of KeepIt Mini Storage, an 88,800-square foot self storage facility located in Mineola, Texas.

Brandon Karr, senior vice president investments, and Danny Cunningham, senior associate in the Fort Worth office, exclusively marketed the property on behalf of the seller, the original developer. The buyer, a Dallas-based storage owner/operator who was fulfilling a 1031 exchange, was also secured by the Karr Self-Storage Team. 

KeepIt Mini Storage is located at 1113 County Road 2220 in Mineola, Texas. Built in phases between 1994 and 2017, the property is comprised of 116 climate-controlled units, 393 non-climate drive up units, 4 uncovered parking spaces, and an 1,800-square-foot business center that can be rented out on a per-day basis.

 

Life Storage honored for customer service

 

Life Storage, Inc. has received Newsweek’s 2020 America’s Best Customer Service Award. The survey was conducted on retailers and service providers from 160 categories, including self storage. Winners were selected based on the evaluations of over 20,000 U.S. customers who have either made a purchase, used a service or gathered information about a product or service in the last three years.

 “We are honored to be recognized by our customers with this award for the second year in a row. Life Storage associates across the company work hard to deliver a best in class customer experience each and every day. This award is a direct result of those efforts,” said Joe Saffire, CEO of Life Storage.

 

CO storage property purchased for affordable housing

 

The Aspen, Colorado, City Council has agreed to buy Aspen Mini Storage as part of a plan to support affordable housing development, according to the Aspen Daily News.

The city council will spend $11 million on the 3-acre parcel that includes the storage center. The property is adjacent to a city-owned lumberyard property, which was purchased in 2008 in an effort to bank affordable housing land. The lumberyard development is now in an early conceptual phase and the addition of the storage property allows for more flexibility.

 

U-Haul opening in refurbished IL Kmart

 

U-Haul Moving & Storage of Decatur, Illinois, is set to open this month. The 119,862-square-foot building includes 860 indoor self storage units and 40 outdoor drive-up self storage units. The store is at 1155 E. Pershing Road.

The property is a former Kmart building that U-Haul spent two years refurbishing.

 

Quantum brokers AZ sale to Guardian

 

Quantum Property Advisors brokered the sale of a 95,992 square foot self storage facility at Certificate of Occupancy, located at 8620 W. Northern Avenue in Peoria, Arizona. The single story facility consists of 1,046-units, both exterior drive-up and air-conditioned. Additionally there are 108-RV Parking Spaces, both covered and enclosed. The facility sits on 7.49-acres, plus there is an additional 4.71-acres for future expansion. 

Norman Herd, president of Quantum Property Advisors, represented both the seller, VLC Enterprises, LLC and buyer, Guardian Storage Centers, LLC. Guardian paid $12,850,000 for the property. The facility will be branded StorAmerica, a subsidiary of Guardian. Quantum Property Advisors is based in Phoenix.

 

Life Storage signs deal to use StorageTreasures

 

Life Storage, Inc. has signed an exclusive agreement to use StorageTreasures.com as the online auction platform for its full portfolio of 800+ facilities. 

"The switch from live auctions to StorageTreasures.com brings the standard benefits of online auctions and frees up more time for front-line employees to focus on customers", said Joseph Saffire, Life Storage’s Chief Executive Officer. It also provides higher lien loss recovery rates.

OpenTech Alliance acquired a majority share in StorageTreasures in 2016 and manages operations from its Phoenix-based headquarters. Life Storage has already implemented INSOMNIAC CIA, OpenTech’s cloud-based access control platform, at several of its facilities.

StorageTreasures is used by over 8,500 storage facilities to complete more than 18,000 auctions each month.

 

Georgia town considers new storage       

 

The Braselton, Georgia Planning Commission is considering a proposed self storage facility at 7352 Friendship Springs Blvd., adjacent to the recently completed Life Storage, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The proposed climate controlled self storage building would be located on 2.038 acres. The property is part of a commercial outparcel at the Publix shopping center.

 

UPS launches concierge storage in Atlanta market

 

UPS Inc., the transport and logistics giant, has unveiled a new service called “Storage on Demand,” in which it will provide pick-ups and deliveries of stored goods. The service has been rolled out in the metro Atlanta area, including UPS’ home base in the north Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs. The service will be expanded to other cities in the near future, UPS said.

Under the service, UPS will deliver storage bins for users to load their property. Once the bins are loaded and sealed, users can request an online pick-up. UPS will deliver the bins to a designated shed to be stored. UPS will then pick up the bins and deliver them to the user’s destination upon the user’s request.

 

SSGT partners with SmartCentres in Toronto

 

Strategic Storage Growth Trust II, Inc. has acquired a newly constructed, 735-unit self storage facility in Toronto, Canada. The facility is located at 1120 Dupont Street, three miles from downtown. This six-story facility is situated on 0.34 acres of land and comprises approximately 47,000 net rentable square feet of self storage units. Completed in early 2019, the property amenities include climate-controlled units, elevator access, drive-in loading area, and video surveillance.

SSGT acquired the property with its Canadian development partner, SmartCentres REIT. SmartCentres is one of Canada's largest real estate investment trusts.

 

Talonvest shares market updates

 

Talonvest Capital Inc. says lenders have a strong appetite for high quality loans. Coupled with low interest rates, there’s opportunity for long-term borrowers.

Among the most recent capital market updates, Talonvest reports:

Low interest rates has led to a surge in refinance volume over the past 120 days. Owners are willing to pay defeasance costs to lock in low 3 percent, 10-yar interest rates while obtaining interest-only payment structures.

CMBS lenders are offering full-term interest-only loans with fixed rates as low as 3.1 percent.

CMBS lenders are quoting deals at an 8 percent debt yield.

Some life companies and banks are quoting perm loans aggressively.

 

Extra Space opening in NJ

Extra Space Storage will open a 1,200-unit facility at 625 Grand Ave. in Ridgefield, New Jersey, according to Patch.com.

The $13.6 million building was constructed on a formerly vacant lot.

Extra Space is the second largest self storage REIT in the United States.

 

American plans Vineland, NJ conversion

 

American Self Storage, through an entity called Vineland Ventures, has proposed to open self storage in a former ShopRite in Vineland, New Jersey, according to the Vineland Daily Journal. 

The property at 215 N. Delsea Drive has sat empty for more than six years. Vineland Ventures wants to convert the supermarket’s 75,000 square feet to storage and potentially build another 75,000 square feet in a second phase. The property is 8.33 acres.

American Self Storage operates Storage Box Central.

 

Shurgard expands portfolio in France

 

Shurgard Self Storage Europe SARL, the European affiliate of U.S.-based real estate investment trust Public Storage Inc., has signed an agreement with France self storage operator Flexistockage to manage its four-property portfolio. Shurgard also signed its intent to acquire two of the facilities early next year. The portfolio serves the Paris metropolitan market and comprises 20,400 square meters in 2,885 units. All four will be rebranded as Shurgard.

Shurgard will acquire one facility in Central Paris and one in Villepinte. The Paris location comprises 2,500 square meters in 600 units, while the Villepinte facility encompasses 5,900 square meters in 690 units. Shurgard will also have first right of refusal to buy a location in Argenteuil, which comprises 8,000 square meters in 945 units. It’s the largest facility in the Paris market. The fourth facility, in Clichy, encompasses 4,000 square meters in 650 units.

The deal expands the Shurgard footprint in Greater Paris to 40 owned and managed facilities. Shurgard operates 231 self-storage facilities in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

 

StorQuest opens two OR facilities

 

StorQuest Self Storage has opened two new self storage facilities in Oregon near outdoor recreation at Mt. Hood. The first ground-up facility is on 750 NE Cornelius Pass Road in Hillsboro, OR. The second new facility is at 12800 SW Pacific Hwy. in Tigard, OR.

StorQuest Self Storage, owned by The William Warren Group, Inc., owns and operates a network of modern, innovative self storage properties across the United States.

 

Moffat named partner in Taylor/Theus

 

Taylor/Theus Holdings Inc. has named Steve Moffat as a third partner, joining Tyler Colpini and David Ellison. In this role, Moffat will focus on identifying and analyzing acquisition and development opportunities for the company. Most recently, Moffat served as director of acquisitions for Extra Space Storage Inc.

Columbia, South Carolina-based Taylor/Theus has developed 19 self storage properties that were sold to Extra Space and their partners, representing more than 1.4 million rentable square feet and 14,000 units. The company’s existing portfolio includes five facilities in lease-up comprising more than 400,000 rentable square feet and 4,050 units. The sites are managed by Extra Space. Taylor/Theus also has four facilities under construction and has purchased another site for development.