Prime Group Holdings Buys 4 Self-Storage Facilities in MA, NY for $23.5M

Prime Group Holdings, a New York-based real estate group that owns self-storage and other commercial and residential property, has purchased the four-property Safe Storage Inc. portfolio in Massachusetts and New York for $23.5 million. Rebranded as Prime Storage, the properties comprise about 250,000 square feet of storage in 2,000 units. They are:

• 1025 Central Ave., Albany, N.Y.
• 50 Oliver St., Cohoes, N.Y.
• 901 Crane Ave., Pittsfield, Mass.
• 1110 Altamont Ave., Schenectady, N.Y.

Safe Storage was owned by the Feinman brothers, Barry, Elliott and Jeff, who built their first facility in Albany 30 years ago. Although the brothers weren’t looking to sell their portfolio, Bob Moser, principal for Prime Group, was persistent in his goal to acquire it, according to the source. "Obviously, we felt it was a fair deal for us. The timing was right, and the buyer was a gentleman. It worked,” Jeff Feinman said.

Prime Group now owns nearly 6 million square feet of storage space east of the Mississippi River, including about 1 million square feet in the Albany/Glens Falls, N.Y., region. The company launched a campaign last fall to raise $100 million through a private-equity fund to acquire additional self-storage assets. It also filed a securities offering in September with the Securities and Exchange Commission citing Prime Storage Fund I LLC as the issuer.

Thus far, the fund has raised $130 million, with a minimum investment of $500,000, according to Moser, who’s planning to launch a larger private-equity offering soon. “I want to become the largest private owner of self-storage in the [United States]. We're probably in the top 10 now,” Moser said.

Headquartered in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Prime Group owns approximately $2.8 billion of commercial real estate in connection with its affiliate companies, which include Morgan Management. Its portfolio includes self-storage in eight states, 25,000 apartment units, a “major amusement park” and other real estate holdings, according to the company website. Bob Morgan is also a company principal.