W.P. Carey affiliate buys three self-storage facilities

BUYER: Tampa Storage 17 (FL) LLC (CPA:17 Limited Partnership), New York City
SELLER: SDG Palm Harbor Holdings LLC
PROPERTY: 31100 U.S. 19 North, Palm Harbor
PRICE: $11.18 million

SELLER: Safeguard Carrollwood LP
PROPERTY: 3708 W. Bearss Ave., Tampa
PRICE: $7.47 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.45 million, June 1998

SELLER: Safeguard Capital Fund LP
PROPERTY: 2501 22nd Ave. N., St. Petersburg
PRICE: $6.34 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.95 million, April 1999
LAW FIRM ON DEED: King & Spalding LLP, Atlanta

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
CPA:17 -Global, a real estate investment trust affiliate of New York City-based W.P. Carey Inc., purchased three self-storage facilities in the Tampa Bay area for $25 million.

The price equated to $111 per square foot or $11,111 per unit.

Located in Palm Harbor, St. Petersburg and Tampa, the properties were all previously owned by Safeguard Self Storage of Melville, N.Y. They feature a total of 225,569 net rentable square feet broken into 2,250 units.

Each property in the Safeguard Self Storage Portfolio is highly visible with street frontage and includes both climate-controlled and non-climate-controlled storage units. Amenities include gated electronic access, video surveillance and managers' offices.

Extra Space Storage Inc. will manage the properties.

“We believe that these are very well-positioned and attractive assets,” W. P. Carey Executive Director Liz Raun Schlesinger says in a news release. “The quality of the assets in combination with the capabilities of the Extra Space management team and our own experience in the self-storage sector makes us confident that this will be a good and stable investment for our investors.”

Michael Mele of Marcus & Millichap's National Self-Storage Group represented the seller.

“With a current [capitalization] rate just north of 6%, this portfolio brings together three strong performers in an equally strong market,” Mele says in a news release. “Tampa's self-storage occupancy rates spiked 200 basis points in the second half of this year, and with growth in the metro projected to accelerate to 1.4% each year and the jobless rate tightening below 9%, the new investor should see reliable revenue for the foreseeable future.”

W. P. Carey is a publicly traded REIT that provides long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing for companies and manages an investment portfolio valued at $13.3 billion.

The purchase entity Tampa Storage 17 (FL) LLC mortgaged the property to Wells Fargo Bank NA for $15 million.