Global real estate investment management firm, Heitman LLC and Life Storage Inc. have formed a joint-venture partnership to acquire 13 newly-constructed self storage properties located across seven metropolitan areas.
The acquired properties comprise a mix of urban and suburban class A properties and are at various stages of lease-up. Situated across Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Naples, FL, Nashville, Newark, NJ and St. Louis, MO, the self storage properties have an average vintage of 2018.
As we continue to execute our global strategy, we’ll look to invest in accordance with three themes: divergence or smart diversification among traditional property types, convergence or capitalization of maturing or mispriced property types and delinked or investing in assets with defensive traits less tied to economic cycles.”
This joint-venture transaction represents Heitman and Life Storage’s seventh partnership.
The portfolio acquisition aligns with Heitman’s global investment strategy.
“Over the past several years, we have developed a strong relationship with Life Storage and look forward to continuing our partnership,” states Gordon Black, senior managing director and portfolio manager at Heitman.
Black adds, “With its resilient income return profile, the US self storage sector provides our global strategy an element of defensiveness to our portfolio. As we continue to execute our global strategy, we’ll look to invest in accordance with three themes: divergence or smart diversification among traditional property types, convergence or capitalization of maturing or mispriced property types and delinked or investing in assets with defensive traits less tied to economic cycles.”
“The class A self storage portfolio features a mix of highly desirable attributes, including location diversity and facility quality,” says Brian Pieracci, managing director and head of North American acquisitions at Heitman. “We believe the portfolio will benefit from our venture’s scale and the sector’s diverse set of demand drivers, which we anticipate to contribute positively to the portfolio’s return profile as we complete the lease-up.”
Heitman has continued to manage investments in self storage since 1996. The company currently manages more than $5 billion in self storage assets globally.
