HOUSTON-A South Texas investor has disposed of a nine-property, self-storage portfolio for $67.75 million in an off-market transaction. The 658,000-sf package consists of five properties in Houston, two in Dallas and one each in Austin and San Antonio.

"This was a portfolio that offered stabilized pricing and strong cap rates," says John Nikolich, managing director of Flint Creek Partners LLC in Fox River Grove, IL, who represented the seller in the transaction. The buyer is an unidentified institutional investor from New York City.

Nikolich tells GlobeSt.com that the seller might be interested in investing the proceeds into newer facilities and investments, but nothing has been planned as yet. He says the seller still has holdings in Houston, but isn't likely to put much more on the market anytime soon.

The properties, each situated on four to six acres, range from seven to 10 years old. The self-storage facilities are both climate- and non-climate controlled space plus areas for automobile, boat and RV storage, light warehouse, wine lockers, incubator office warehouses and retail.

According to industry sources, self-storage units are becoming an increasingly popular investment because they're relatively easy to maintain plus boosting occupancy is less of an effort than with other real estate. As a result, the self-storage facilities become "an interesting investment proposition," Nikolich says.