Update 5/27/14 – The combined purchase total for Virtus Real Estate Capital’s recent acquisition was $4 million. The company paid $2.17 million for the facility in Rogers and $1.62 million for the one in Bentonville. The facilities will be renamed Rogers Self Storage and Bentonville Storage, respectively. Combined, the facilities have more than 800 storage units.
The individual sellers are part of A&A Storage’s limited-liability company, which is based in Tarzana, Calif. In 2007, the LLC paid $2.12 million for the Rogers facility and $1.77 million for the Bentonville property.
Virtus targeted Northwest Arkansas due to the lack of storage ownership in the area and its growing economy, Humphreys told the source. The company is in negotiations to purchase a third Arkansas facility and also recently entered the Oklahoma market, he said.
Virtus Real Estate Capital, a real estate private equity firm, recently acquired two self-storage facilities in Arkansas through a joint venture with Absolute Storage Management (ASM), a real estate owner and operator. The purchase is the first in the region for both companies.
The A&A Stor It portfolio includes a 57,700-square-foot facility in Bentonville, Ark., and a 72,025-square-foot facility in Rogers, Ark. Built between 1993 and 1995, the facilities encompass more than 800 units. Opened nine years ago, the Bentonville site at 804 S.E. J St. is south of Walmart’s headquarters on an infill location. The Rogers facility at 104 N. 24th St. opened 12 years ago and underwent a 2001 expansion that added two new buildings totaling 22,000 square feet of storage space.
ASM plans to spend more than $120,000 on facility upgrades across the two sites. Virtus will address asphalt repairs, door repair and painting, office rehabilitations, additional security elements, and other improvements at both locations.
"We’re excited to be establishing a solid footprint with these two self-storage acquisitions in a region we feel will continue to see economic growth across a number of different industries and undergo consistent population increases," said Virtus Acquisitions Director Scott Humphreys. “We’ve seen impressive gains in our portfolio of existing ASM-managed stores, and are confident in its ability to drive rental rates and maintain stabilized occupancies through best-in-class operations with a hands-on approach.”
Based in Austin, Texas, and founded in 2003, Virtus has acquired more than $2 billion of commercial real estate in more than 150 properties across the United States. The company is actively seeking additional opportunities to acquire storage properties in its target markets. Founded in 2002, ASM provides third-party management services in the southeastern United States. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., the company operates more than 75 properties in 13 states.
Sources:
- A&A Stor It: Website
