Storage Post Self Storage Enters Florida Market With Multi-Property Acquisition

Update – 6/12/2014: The recent acquisition of the eight-property Best Florida Storage portfolio in Broward County, Fla., totaled $91 million, or $106 per square foot, according to a press release from Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services.

Mike Mele, a first vice president of investments in the Marcus & Millichap Tampa, Fla., office, represented Storage Post and the seller, Arvid Albanese of The Albanese Group LLC, in the transaction.

The portfolio “is an outstanding mix of stabilized assets with strong cash flow, lease-up properties with new construction components and newly renovated space,” Mele said. “The previous owner assembled this portfolio of prime locations with exacting focus over a decade of ownership, selectively pruning underperforming assets along the way.”

The eight properties are: 

• Best Florida Storage One, Fort Lauderdale, 115,528 rentable square feet and 1,074 units
• Best Florida Storage Two, Fort Lauderdale, 56,107 rentable square feet and 740 units
• Best Florida Storage Three, Fort Lauderdale, 104,474 rentable square feet, 1,070 units
• Best Florida Storage Five, Lauderhill, 87,137 rentable square and 1,041 units
• Best Florida Storage Six, Pompano Beach, 52,113 rentable square feet and 346 units
• Best Florida Storage Seven, Oakland Park, 88,694 rentable square feet and 519 units
• Best Florida Storage Eleven, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach, 220,000 rentable square feet and 1,169 units
• Best Florida Storage Twelve, Fort Lauderdale, 100,450 rentable square feet and 1,199 units 

Marcus & Millichap has more than 1,300 investment professionals in offices throughout the United States and Canada. The company closed more than 6,600 transactions last year with a value of approximately $24 billion.

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Storage Post Self Storage, a private company that operates facilities along the East Coast and in the South, has entered the Florida self-storage market with the recent acquisition of a multi-property portfolio in Greater Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The portfolio includes mixed-use space, including commercial and retail frontage, and eight self-storage stores in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Oakland Park and Pompano Beach, Fla.

Together, the properties comprise 800,000 rentable square feet of storage space and more than 8,000 units. The facilities include climate-controlled units, rental parking and traditional drive-up units. Common features throughout the assets are gated security, key-code access, moving and packing supplies, and video cameras. Many of the stores are positioned near highly trafficked roads and highways, such as Sunrise Boulevard and Highway 441, N.W. 19th Street and I-95, and along South Dixie Highway East.

“We targeted Florida for expansion due to its stabilizing economy, increasing population and healthy self-storage industry,” said Jack Giannola, director of acquisitions. “This portfolio is really a great selection of properties that will add value and serve as a springboard for additional opportunities in this underserved region. This is just the latest of what we believe will be successful expansion into new markets and regions."

Chief operating officer Dylan Delaune said the company has been watching the self-storage climate across the United States, and has pinpointed cities and metropolitan areas with the highest barriers to entry and the most storage demand.

“Florida's self-storage industry has been thriving, and we knew we wanted to enter the market," Delaune said. "When we saw this multi-property portfolio with its fantastic locations in residential and industrial areas, we jumped at the chance to add it to our brand."

Storage Post is headquartered in Atlanta and has more than 30 locations in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New Jersey and New York. Since 2012, the company has expanded its portfolio with more than 25 acquisitions and is expected to add more properties in the next year through purchases, ground-up development and select management contracts.