Winter Garden investor buys Devon Self Storage

BUYER: SQNF LLC (principal: Chris Miller), Winter Garden
SELLER: ACM Silverleaf III-B LLC
PROPERTY: 13701 Indian Paint Lane, Fort Myers
PRICE: $2.45 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.4 million, July 2005
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Law Firm of Trenam Kemker, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Chris Miller of Winter Garden purchased the 71,229-square-foot Devon Self Storage facility for $2.45 million.

The price equated to $34 per square foot. That figure is below the two-year average price per square foot for industrial space ($50) in the Southwest Florida area, according to the CoStar Group.

The 5-year-old self-storage facility features a single two-story building and three one-story concrete block buildings. The 4.8-acre property includes a total of 537 self-storage units, including 351 climate-controlled units and 70 RV or boat parking spaces. Storage units range from 20 to 480 square feet. The Devon Self Storage complex includes drive-up units, security cameras, a computerized gate entrance, roll-up doors and a manager's office and apartment.

Charles “Chico” LeClaire of Marcus & Millichap's Denver office and Michael Mele in the firm's Tampa office handled the transaction.

The facility had an average occupancy of about 60%, which was fairly normal for the Fort Myers market.

“We were inundated with sellers demanding to close by year-end to avoid the raise in capital gains tax in 2013,” Mele says in a press release. “This self-storage transaction is a direct result of that push.”

The sale price equated to a payoff ratio based on income (capitalization rate) of 7.39%.