NEWARK NJ−Prudential Mortgage Capital has financed the LockUp/Evergreen Storage portfolio of 18 self-storage properties located around the country with $131.7 million in first-mortgage loans.

The lender is the commercial mortgage business of Prudential Financial, which is based here. The transaction was orchestrated by executives in the San Francisco office.

The self-storage properties are located in Chicago, Minneapolis, Florida, Hawaii and Massachusetts, as well as in New Jersey. They include 13,422 units with a total of 1.15 million rentable square feet. Most of the facilities are Class A modern buildings situated in populous, affluent urban locations.

All of the properties were built or converted to self-storage use between 1982 and 2009. The portfolio was 86.5% occupied in April. “As the US economy improves, with many Americans choosing to rent instead of own, the fundamentals of the self-storage market continue to improve, especially for high-quality, proven assets in major markets,” said Frances Bo, a loan originator with PMC in San Francisco who co-led the transaction.

The financing consisted of a $20-million, seven-year, floating rate tranche, and a $111.7-million, 10-year, fixed-rate tranche. The structure was tailored to the needs of the buyer.

Frederick van Overbeek, a PMC principal, said his company has a long-standing relationship with Lock Up/Evergreen. Rick Hielscher, a partner with Lock Up said, “This is now our third large portfolio transaction with the PMC team and we find they uniquely understand and appreciate our sector, our company and our specific assets.”

PMC has more than $79 billion in commercial and multifamily assets under management and administration.