Strategic Storage Trust Inc., a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust specializing in self-storage, recently acquired two properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, amounting to approximately 1,350 units, for $14.1 million. The new sites will be rebranded as SmartStop Self Storage locations.

“This acquisition represents our emerging growth in Northern California,” said H. Michael Schwartz, Strategic Storage Trust’s chairman and CEO. “We continue to target the San Francisco Bay Area due to its geographic diversification, strong economic market and a forecast of population expansion.”

The first property is located at a main residential intersection at 3480 Tennessee St. in the suburb of East Vallejo. The property contains approximately 75,000 rentable square feet with 860 units on roughly 4 acres of land. Built in 2001, the facility consists of seven single-story buildings with ground-level and drive-up access.

The second property is located at 222 San Pedro Ave. in Morgan Hill and contains 61,000 rentable square feet with 490 units on approximately 3 acres. Morgan Hill is in Santa Clara County, part of Silicon Valley, with easy access to U.S. Route 101 as well as Monterey Road, a major thoroughfare. Built in 1997, the facility consists of three single-story buildings with ground-level and drive-up access.

Aaron Swerdlin, senior managing director of mortgage banker Holliday, Fenoglio, Fowler L.P., represented the sellers in the transaction.

Since the launch of Strategic Storage Trust in 2008, the company’s portfolio of wholly-owned properties has expanded to include 61 properties in 16 U.S. states and Canada. The company’s sponsor is Strategic Capital Holdings LLC, which manages a growing portfolio of more than 7 million square feet of commercial properties, including 5.5 million square feet of self-storage, with a combined market value of more than $756 million.

Article source: http://www.insideselfstorage.com/news/2011/04/strategic-storage-trust-inc-acquires-2-bay-area-selfstorage-facilities.aspx