StorageMart Buys Entire Manhattan Mini Storage Portfolio
The company's portfolio grew by roughly 2.3 million rentable square feet.
5030 Broadway
Edison Properties, the parent company of Manhattan Mini Storage, has sold its entire 18-property self storage portfolio to StorageMart. The seller has built the brand over more than 40 years, making it the first and the oldest Manhattan self storage company.
According to data from Yardi Matrix, the transaction expanded StorageMart’s New York footprint by nearly 2.3 million rentable square feet. The company now owns more than 20 million square feet of storage space across 200,000 locations in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
Citigroup acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP offered legal counsel to the buyer. Eastdil Secured served as financial advisor to Edison Properties.
The largest asset in the portfolio is a 268,119-rentable-square-foot facility at 5030 Broadway. Built in 2009, the eight-story building has climate-controlled units ranging from 16 to 100 square feet. The property is one of 26 facilities within a 3-mile radius, which equates to a modest 2 square feet per capita.
Keeping up with demand
New York continues to be the most underserved self storage market among major metros. In September, the metro had 3.5 square feet of storage per capita, representing half the national penetration rate, a recent Yardi Matrix report shows.
Limited storage supply kept New York rents healthy. Year-over-year through September, street-rate rents increased 8 percent for 10×10 non-climate-controlled units, to $192. Meanwhile, rates for the same-sized climate-controlled units grew 6 percent, to $210.
Responding to high demand, construction activity has surged in the metro over the past months. In September, new projects accounted for 17.9 percent of existing inventory, an 80-basis-point increase from the previous month.
Still, due to the scarcity of land available for development in high-density areas, the mini storage business model remains a successful alternative to traditional larger facilities. For example, self storage startup Stuf offers units in alternative locations, such as underused spaces in New York City office buildings.
