If you own a self-storage facility long enough, you’ll eventually receive a subpoena for records or even witness testimony. You may also get a request from law enforcement to search a unit. Court orders and search warrants should not be ignored, but you also have a duty to your tenants. Here are some practical steps to follow when dealing with these issues.

Records Subpoena

This is the least intrusive request you may receive related to ongoing litigation, but beware! A crafty lawyer may use a subpoena to gather information in preparation for filing a lawsuit. Further, the request might seek sensitive information about your tenants and, therefore, should be examined closely. Follow these steps when dealing with any subpoena for a tenant’s records:

1. If someone is trying to serve you with a subpoena, don’t dodge it, as it may force the lawyer seeking documents to get an order from a court to compel you to appear. Don’t worry—being served a subpoena isn’t the end of the world. It just means you need to go to step two.
2. Call your attorney. Have him look over the subpoena and discuss it with you. If it’s non-invasive, easy to respond to and otherwise not objectionable, you’ll likely put the documents together and it’ll be over. If not…
3. If the subpoena falls into the "Are you kidding me?" category, your attorney can file a motion with the court to halt it or ask that it be narrowed in scope. For example, if it seeks all rental agreements from 1 A.D. to present, no court will enforce it, and it’ll be subject to a sharp narrowing. If it seeks sensitive information such as tenants’ personal identification, a court will likewise narrow the scope or disallow it altogether.
4. Do not ignore a subpoena, as this tells the court you don't care about its orders. That isn’t an option. Bringing your complaints to the court in a timely fashion (before the date the documents are due) is always your best option if strict compliance is too difficult.

Deposition/Testimony Subpoena

You may receive a subpoena seeking testimony about company policy or procedures, or eye-witness accounts of something that happened on your property. Always contact legal counsel for in this case. The last thing you want to do is testify without preparation and unintentionally subject yourself or your company to liability. Your attorney can call the other lawyer to determine if your testimony is necessary or if documents will suffice. He can also reschedule inconvenient dates and possibly obtain an agreement on narrowing the scope of the testimony.

Again, don’t ignore it. This can subject you to being compelled to show up in court and explain to a judge why you didn't comply. It's like going to the principal: You know you’re in trouble no matter what you say.

Search Warrants and Police Investigations

Unfortunately, you may sometimes have a tenant who isn’t a perfect citizen. I know it seems hard to believe, but criminals do occasionally rent storage units. I once had a client experience the following:

A doctor and partner in a medical practice became angry with his partners over a financial issue. One night he went to his office, loaded all the medical equipment into a truck and drove away. The next morning, he rented two large storage units and filled them with the stolen goods (the equipment was owned by the practice). Included in the items was a safe containing a large amount of cash—also not owned by the doctor.

A month or so later the police visited the storage facility and demanded to see the units. Although my client was unaware of these shenanigans, the story was believable, and he wanted to help the police with their investigation. However, they didn’t have a search warrant. The only thing they had was the sworn testimony of the tenant's former partners. What would you do?

The answer is simple: Tenant first. In fact, that two-word phrase will prevent a myriad of problems.

My client called me, and I spoke to the police directly. I explained the doctor's units were secure and we didn’t have the right to open them without his permission unless there was an emergency. Assisting in a criminal investigation isn’t an emergency unless officers believe there are dangerous materials or a person trapped inside. If we open the unit and it’s exactly what the police say it is, the tenant will still have a valid reason to argue we breached our rental agreement. So, two days later, a frustrated police officer returned with a search warrant, which we immediately honored.

The point is simple: Take subpoenas and search warrants seriously, but don’t panic. They’re not unchallengeable and often can be worked out in a less intrusive way. Remember, hiring counsel at the front end is cheaper and less stressful than doing so to get you out of jail for ignoring a court order.

Murphy Klasing is a partner with Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber P.C. He has a wide range of appellate, arbitration and trial experience, successfully handling numerous litigation matters. With more than a decade of experience in the self-storage industry, he serves as counsel for Public Storage Inc. in Oklahoma and Texas, and has defended matters involving allegations of breach of contract, code violations, employment issues, fraud, negligence, personal injury, premises liability and theft. To reach him, call 713.961.9045; e-mail [email protected]; visit www.wkpz.com.

Mequity LLC, an Atlanta-based real estate development and investment firm focused on self-storage, and Jernigan Capital Inc., a merchant bank and advisory firm serving the same industry, intend to develop a 96,295-square-foot, 1,152-unit self-storage facility in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. The eight-story, climate-controlled structure is proposed for N.W. 27th Street, between the Dolphin Expressway and Tamiami Trail. Construction is expected to begin during the second quarter of 2018, with completion scheduled for the third quarter of 2019, according to a press release.

CubeSmart, a self-storage real estate investment trust and third-party management firm, will manage the property.

Jernigan has committed $20.1 million toward the project, its fourth co-investment with Mequity. The others are in New York City, North Bergen, N.J., and Vinings, Ga.

The Little Havana market is densely populated and characterized by apartments and small, single-family homes. An estimated 69 percent of residents live in rental housing, according to the release. More than 48,000 vehicles drive past the building site each day.

Mequity has closed more than $75 million in self-storage development starts in 2017. Its primary markets include the Atlanta, Miami, New York and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas as well as Northern New Jersey. The company will also consider compelling development opportunities or acquisitions in other Eastern locations, according to its LinkedIn page. Its principals are Bill Marsh and Robert Holly.

Jernigan Capital is a commercial real estate finance company that provides financing to private developers, operators and owners of self-storage facilities. It offers financing for acquisition, ground-up construction, major redevelopment or refinancing. Since Jan. 1, the company has closed 26 self-storage investments totaling more than $341 million. It typically holds a 49.9 percent profit interest in its joint-venture transactions, according to company officials. The firm intends to be taxed as a real estate investment trust and is externally managed by JCap Advisors LLC.

Update 11/27/17 – PSP has broken ground on its three-story self-storage facility after securing an $8.1 million construction loan. Construction on the 4.2-acre site at 4589 W. Sunrise Blvd. is expected to be complete by mid-2018, according to the source. The facility will offer 24-hour access, climate-controlled units, onsite management and video cameras.

An earlier report indicated the facility would be built on 2.66 acres at 1021 W. Sunrise Blvd. The new site is between the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 95.

The loan from an unidentified national bank was negotiated by Walker & Dunlop Inc. It has a 10-year term, covering a 12-month construction period and three years of interest-only payments during a stabilization period. The remaining portion of the loan term is amortized over 25 years, according to a press release from Walker & Dunlop.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Walker & Dunlop is a real estate services and finance company specializing in financing and investment sales to owners of multi-family and commercial properties.

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9/23/16 – The Preferred Storage Plantation (PSP) project on Sunrise Boulevard has received approval from the Plantation City Council. The 101,533-square-foot facility will be built on 2.66 acres. It will be developed by Preferred Realty & Development, which will break ground during the first quarter of 2017, company president Thomas Speno Jr. told the source.

PSP acquired the land for $1.2 million in April. The three-story facility was designed by architect Kenneth Carlson, according to the source.

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7/1/16 – Three self-storage projects have recently been proposed in Plantation, Fla., including two by real estate investment trust (REIT) Extra Space Storage Inc. If approved, the REIT projects would add more than 188,000 square feet to its operating portfolio. The third proposal is for a three-story facility to be developed by Preferred Storage Plantation LLC, which is managed by Robert Friedman, according to the source.

Extra Space is looking to build a 101,346-square-foot facility on 2.25 acres at 7795 W. Sunrise Blvd. The four-story facility would include 73,575 net rentable square feet and 40 parking spaces. The company purchased the site in 2008 for $1.95 million, the source reported. The city council was scheduled to vote on the development on June 29.

The REIT has also proposed an 86,727-square-foot facility for 1.14 acres at 231 S.W. 125th Ave. Extra Space has the property under contract from owner Pelican Coast Holdings. The facility was designed by Tampa, Fla.-based Hartley Purdy Architecture Inc.

The Preferred Storage project would be built on 2.66 acres at 1021 W. Sunrise Blvd. The North Miami, Fla.-based company acquired the property in April for $1.2 million, the source reported.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Extra Space owns or operates 1,371 self-storage properties in 37 states; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico. The company’s properties comprise approximately 910,000 units and 103 million square feet of rentable space.

Madison Development LLC, a Manhattan, N.Y.-based self-storage developer, has entered a 25-year lease agreement with renewable-energy company Altus Power America to add solar panels to its property in Bronx, N.Y. The community solar-panel system will be the city’s largest, according to the source, allowing participants to share energy without installing panels on their own homes or apartment buildings.

The solar deal is a “prototype sustainable-energy project for urban areas,” says Adam Gordon, managing partner of Madison. Additional deals for Madison properties in Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens, N.Y., are also in the works, the source reported.

The facility at 1260 Zerega Ave. comprises 100,000 square feet of storage space. It’s managed by self-storage real estate investment trust CubeSmart and branded under its name.

Madison has developed residential, retail and self-storage projects for two decades. It currently has more than 700,000 square feet under development.

Strategic Storage Trust IV Inc. (SST IV), a public, non-traded, real estate investment trust sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management LLC, has purchased a self-storage facility in Texas City, Texas. Best Storage at 3730 Emmett F. Lowry Expressway comprises 80,000 square feet of space in 480 climate-controlled and drive-up units. Built in 2010, it sits on 10.49 acres, which includes a 7.3-acre parcel for future development, according to a press release.

“This well-located facility is 94.8 percent leased, offers attractive amenities and is strategically situated near Emmett F. Lowry Expressway, a major transit corridor in the area,” said H. Michael Schwartz, chairman and CEO of SST IV. “This acquisition aligns perfectly with SST IV’s investment strategy to acquire a portfolio of stabilized self-storage properties mixed with value-add opportunities that provide growth opportunities.”

Based in Maryland, SST IV intends to invest in in a portfolio of self-storage properties in Canada and the United States. SmartStop is the asset manager for 109 facilities in Toronto and the U.S. Its portfolio comprises approximately 7.9 million rentable square feet.

The concept of “land use” is often misunderstood. While it can be a great tool for optimizing the design and profitability of a self-storage land parcel, it’s important to fully understand a jurisdiction’s zoning laws and development standards and use them to your advantage. City land-use regulations vary greatly from city to city, and relying on a simple overview can often result in a design that fails to leverage a site’s maximum potential.

I’ve been working with zoning ordinances for more than 30 years, and there isn’t a week that goes by in which I don’t learn something new. My advice is to dig deep into a municipality’s land-use ordinance and peel back all its layers before you start designing your storage facility. One jurisdiction’s C-2 zone may be very different from the one in the next town over, so it pays to do your homework and understand the nuances.

Going FAR Into the Zone

I recommend working from the top down, moving methodically from the big picture to the little picture. At the top is a “General Plan” designation, which is a broadly defined ordinance from every city, town and county intended to guide development in terms of circulation, infrastructure, land use and densities. The jurisdiction’s land-use or zoning ordinance offers a more detailed and specific set of regulations. Many cities have other layers of ordinances, such as specific plans, overlay districts, incentive zoning and more, so it’s important to verify if a target parcel is in one or more of these special areas.

The zoning ordinance will usually enumerate the required setbacks, height limits, landscape requirements, required parking, maximum lot coverage and/or floor-area ratio (FAR), among other requirements that will affect the design of your project. FAR is the ratio of land to building area. For example, 10,000 square feet of land with a FAR of 1 would allow for a 10,000-square-foot building.

Most jurisdictions have either a lot-coverage restriction or a FAR limitation, but usually not both. Lot coverage affects a building’s footprint at grade, and the upper-floor area isn’t included in the restriction. So, on a 10,000-square-foot lot with a coverage restriction of 50 percent, you could build a 5,000-square-foot building at grade level. Since upper floors aren’t factored, lot-coverage restrictions allow for more options than a FAR limitation, which includes the areas comprised by the upper floors.

Basements and Lockers

Here’s why it pays to dig deep into the zoning ordinance. Some cities have very different definitions of FAR, so thoroughly understanding how they differ can result in a considerable area increase for your project. For example, many cities will exempt a basement from the FAR. In this case, if you have a footprint of 30,000 square feet for a three-story building (a total of 90,000 square feet) and you’re at the maximum FAR, you may be able to add a 30,000-square-foot basement to make it a 120,000-square-foot facility.

Another way to maximize area is by paying attention to the definitions in the zoning ordinance. When cities define “building area,” they often exclude the thickness of exterior walls, elevator shafts, machine rooms and exit stairs. For a recent project, we added about 9,000 square feet by taking advantage of this oversight.

Another key point is most cities require only 50 percent or more of a basement to be below grade. This means it’s often possible to have drive-aisle access on one side of the lowest level and still meet a city’s basement definition, making it exempt from FAR limitations. Not all cities will exempt a basement from the FAR, but many do, so it pays to do your homework.

Another way to add rentable space beyond what may be limited by the FAR is to add lockers above an 8-foot-high storage unit. Most cities will exempt these lockers because they aren’t directly accessible from floor space that’s counted in the FAR. These lockers are accessed using a rolling platform ladder, so we typically integrate this option only in dense urban markets with proven demand. We use them sparingly, but they can provide an advantage in some situations, albeit at a discounted rental rate.

Parking

Many cities that lack a parking ordinance specific to self-storage will often lump self-storage with another land use like warehousing. The problem is warehousing can be employee-intensive and require considerably more parking than storage. Based on data from the Institute of Transportation Planners, a 100,000-square-foot self-storage facility would typically have a peak hour trip rate of 14 to 16 cars. We’ve convinced many cities that this data proves specific demand for parking and should be used as a measure of actual parking designated for self-storage.

One way to leverage parking and maximize building square footage is to designate parking in areas where you can’t build due to zoning requirements. A drive aisle that’s 28 feet wide allows for a 20-foot clear fire lane and 8 feet of parallel parking. Using the linear drive aisles’ 8-foot width enables you to add several parking spaces. In many cases, this strategy will get you to the required number of parking spaces while providing convenient access for customers. Maximizing the efficient use of parking is just another tool to increase the area of your facility.

Over/Under, Two-Story Ramp

Another strategy to maximize land use is to enable vehicle access to upper and lower levels of a two-story project. By manipulating a site’s topography for access, elevators, exit stairs and the machine room can often be eliminated.

One approach is an over-under concept in which the first floor is accessed from a lower drive aisle, and the second floor is accessed from the upper drive aisle. This increases the net-to-gross ratio and improves your project’s bottom line. Any time you can increase net square footage while holding gross square footage constant, your pro forma and profit will improve.

The same net-to-gross ratio benefits can be achieved on largely flat sites by incorporating a two-story ramp. In this case, two-story buildings can be designed in the center of the site, with one-story buildings on the perimeter. The center-up aisle is accessed via a 10 percent grade ramp between the two-story buildings to allow drive-aisle access to second-floor units. Access to first-floor units is provided from the perimeter drive aisles on grade. The result in both cases is a large increase in net rentable area.

Multi-story buildings with elevators are usually 75 percent efficient, while projects leveraging either the over-under or two-story ramp method are typically around 88 percent efficient. This means that for a multi-story, elevator-served project of 100,000 gross square feet, we’d get about 75,000 net rentable square feet. The same footprint designed with a two-story ramp or over-under concept would yield about 88,000 net rentable square feet. This represents considerable added value to your project.

There are many strategies to maximize land-use potential, but developing a thorough understanding of a jurisdiction’s zoning restrictions is essential to getting the most out of a given parcel. Taking the time to learn the land-use definitions in municipal ordinances and studying site-design options can result in a significant increase to your project’s bottom line.

Bruce Jordan is president of Jordan Architects Inc. He has more than 30 years of experience in architecture, preceded by an extensive background in construction and real estate development. His experience includes self-storage, professional office buildings, high-density residential projects, mixed-use projects, retail facilities, hotels, restaurants, industrial, commercial, and specialty projects such as museums and theme parks. For more information, call 949.388.8090; visit www.jordanarchitects.com.

While many self-storage operators recognize the value in creating a social media presence, many don’t have a set of concrete goals they’re trying to achieve through their online outreach. Setting goals for your social media program will give you guideposts for the types of content you post, the platforms you use and the frequency of postings required. Here are three common objectives that will work for most any self-storage business.

Goal 1: Increase Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is how readily recognizable your brand is by potential customers. You want your company name to be the first to people’s lips when they discuss self-storage. Social media is a great way to keep reminding people who you are. But how?

First, decide which platforms work best for your brand. You know the big three: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The second tier includes YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Google+ and others. Each platform has a different demographic and socio-economic user makeup. For instance, you may be surprised to learn that 75 percent of adults who make more than $75,000 annually use Facebook.

Once you’ve decided which platforms to use, you’ll want to focus on creating content that’s shareable and diverse. Maria Dykstra, founder of digital-marketing firm TreDigital, suggests this mix: 60 percent industry-related, third-party content, 30 percent company-related content and 10 percent promotional content.

As you begin posting, there are three main metrics you should track to see if you’re increasing brand awareness:

• Followers: By tracking the growth of your followers over time, you’ll be able to see how well your social media efforts are paying off.
• Reach: This refers to the number of people who see your posts. As you post content, monitor the reach each post gets and customize your messages toward the types of posts that reach the most people.
• Shares, retweets and mentions: Pay attention to the posts that are getting liked, shared, retweeted and commented on, and cultivate similar messages for added engagement. Each platform offers analytics dashboards that will show you these metrics.

Goal 2: Increase Engagement

What’s engagement? Simply put, it’s the amount of interaction your posts receive. If you’re on Facebook, this means shares, likes and followers. If you’re on Twitter, this is retweets and followers. And if you’re on Instagram, engagement is measured in likes and followers.

If you’ve been posting on social media for any length of time, you know how frustrating it can be to accomplish this goal. The key is trial and error. You must be willing to experiment with different types of content on several platforms at different times and dates. That’s a lot of variables, but finding the right combination can really get the ball rolling in terms of interaction with your customers and, ultimately, increased brand awareness and sales. Here are some ideas:

Try a little humor. Your audience doesn’t want pitch after pitch about how great your company is, nor do followers want every post to include that week’s special offers. Instead, try posting humorous stories, GIFs or videos, which are more likely to be forwarded and increase your reach.

Give visuals. People love to look at pictures. Whether it’s an image of a beautiful location, a nice sunset or cute animal, there will be an instant draw. If you can, post images of real people. This can be of your staff having fun at a company gathering or a customer who just received great service. Eighty-seven percent of content shared on Facebook consists of photographs, according to Social Media Examiner.

Ask for it. If you’re not getting any activity on your posts, try asking for it. Ask questions like, “If your house was on fire and you could only grab one item, what would it be?” Or create a Twitter poll: “Is your garage too full to park a car in it?” Additional approaches include fill-in-the-blank statements, caption-writing contests or asking people to post their favorite animated GIF (this one seems to be quite effective).

Stimulate interest. Another way to draw interest to your posts is offering compelling information that would interest your audience. This can come in the form of links to helpful articles, for example, “7 Warning Signs You Need a New Roof.” Posts containing facts and stats also do well, such as “The average U.S. household contains 300,000 things.”

Goal 3: Drive Traffic and Generate Leads

These are really two goals but, in the end, they’re both about generating business. While social media is great for keeping your name in the minds of your customers, it also needs to be looked at for bringing people to your site and, ultimately, having them complete a desired action. This could be booking a storage unit, filling out a form or calling one of your locations.

After using the above-mentioned suggestions to create engagement, you’ll need to understand if your social media efforts are effective. To do that, look at your site’s analytics. If you don’t already have Google Analytics installed, start there. Once in the dashboard, from the “Acquisitions” menu, go to “All Traffic/Channels.”

Here you'll see how your social presence brings visits to your site. Since these visits are coming from people who most likely are already fans or following your brand, the traffic is going to be more qualified and will result in better conversion than your organic or referral traffic. If you drill down into that channel, you’ll see which of your social media platforms is getting you the most traffic.

Keep this in mind when creating content for your social media channels: Posting about new and interesting content that lives on your website in the form of a blog or newsletter is a good way to get increased traffic. In study by social media management platform Buffer, 61 percent of businesses surveyed used social media to distribute content, thereby directing visits back to their websites. Another 54 percent used social media to develop sales leads.

Speaking of generating leads, social media lends itself very well to lead generation if you create the right framework. For instance, a great way to collect new prospects is to run a sweepstakes or giveaway. Through the entry form, you’ll be able to grab their e-mail address. Include a way for them to share the event via their social media channels. If your organization offers referral bonuses to customers, this would also be something to promote on a routine basis.

If you’re going to focus on generating new leads, you may want to buy more reach through boosted posts. With Facebook and other platforms limiting organic reach these days, an easier way to generate a bigger audience is through paid advertising. The good news is it’s much cheaper than Google AdWords. West Coast Self-Storage recently boosted a post promoting its latest blog and reached 3,000 more people than one of its standard posts. It also received 184 click-throughs to the website. The net result was a per-visit cost of only 27 cents, so it was well worth the investment.

If you’re going to go through the effort of establishing a social media program for your self-storage business, map out a few solid goals. This will give you something to aim for instead of the standard “post and pray” mentality that many companies use. Follow the guidelines above and you’ll soon generate more traction through your efforts.

Derek Hines is an Internet-marketing assistant for West Coast Self-Storage, a self-storage acquisitions, development and management company with facilities in California, Oregon and Washington. He writes extensively on all subjects related to self-storage. For more information, visit www.westcoastselfstorage.com.

U.K. self-storage operator Big Yellow Group PLC released financial operating-performance results for the first six months of its 2017 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. The company reported same-store revenue of £57.1 million for the period, up 6 percent from a year ago. It attributed the growth to strong gains in average occupancy across its portfolio, which closed at 83.8 percent compared to 78.5 percent a year ago, according to a press release.

Same-store occupancy was 84.3 percent, up from 79.6 percent a year ago. Though it fell short of its total-portfolio average-occupancy goal of 85 percent, Big Yellow officials were encouraged by the positive movement and 1.6 percent increase in rent per square foot despite no rate growth year over year. As a result, the company has increased its occupancy target to 90 percent.

“In our view, it makes no sense to have significant unutilized capacity, and consequently we have focused on occupancy and will continue to do so for the time being,” said Nicholas Vetch, executive chairman. “Our pricing model is largely automated, and higher levels of occupancy deliver more traction on pricing. We know this because we can see the performance of stores with elevated occupancy.”

While Big Yellow would like to add rental capacity through acquisitions, “there are few self-storage centers that meet our quality criteria, and for those that do exist, they are generally not for sale,” Vetch said, noting the company has no interest is expanding internationally. “We will, therefore, continue to develop the Big Yellow platform organically, site by site.”

Total revenue for the six months was £58.1 million, a 6 percent increase year over year. Adjusted pre-tax profit was £30.6 million, up 13 percent from a year ago. The group's pre-tax “statutory profit” was £78.7 million, a 36 percent increase compared to the same period last fiscal year. The growth was attributed to increases in operating profit and a higher revaluation gain during the period.

The company has acquired three development sites since March, increasing its project pipeline to eight new facilities and two expansions. Together the London-area projects will add 575,000 square feet. Of current developments, Big Yellow expects to open a 56,000-square-foot facility in Guildford, England, in March and complete a 25,000-square-foot expansion in London’s Wandsworth borough in April.

Big Yellow Group operates 92 self-storage locations in the United Kingdom under the Big Yellow Self Storage and Armadillo Self Storage brand names, with most concentrated in Greater London. Its total portfolio comprises 5.4 million square feet.

Montreal Mini-Storage Group has purchased a two-property self-storage portfolio in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from Dalfen American Corp., a real estate investment manager focused on industrial properties in Canada and the United States. Together, the sites comprise169,000 rentable square feet in more than 1,300 units.

The property at 8925 St. Laurent Blvd. was converted to self-storage in 2006, while the facility at 2707 Dollard Ave., in the Montreal borough of LaSalle, was transformed in phases between 2006 and 2009. Offerings at both sites include climate control, electronic access control, office suites, warehouse spaces, video cameras and temperature-controlled loading docks, according to a press release.

The seller was represented in the transaction by Robert MacDougall, Steve Mellon and Brian Somoza, managing directors for JLL Capital Markets, a commercial real estate and finance firm. “Strong surrounding demographics, quality construction and busy retail locations made this an attractive offering and should result in a solid investment for Montreal Mini-Storage Group,” Mellon said.

Founded in 2003, Montreal Mini operates seven facilities in the city.

JLL is a full-service global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers. The firm completed $145 billion in investment sale and debt and equity transactions globally in 2016. The firm’s Capital Markets team comprises more than 2,000 specialists globally.