MIAMI—Florida is seeing plenty of self-storage sales in the last days of the year—including one record-breaking deal in the Panhandle. Seagrove Beach Self Storage, located in Santa Rosa Beach, FL, sold for $10 million. That's $153 per square foot and sets a new record for self-storage facilities of this size sold in the Florida Panhandle in 2014.

Michael Mele, senior vice president investments in Marcus & Millichap's Tampa office, and Stacey Gorman, senior associate in the firm's Atlanta office, represented the seller, an Atlanta-based family trust. The duo also represented the buyer, a private operator based in South Florida.

“Seagrove Beach Self Storage is an extremely high-quality asset with historically high occupancy rates,” says Mele. “It will make a great addition to the new owner's portfolio.” Gorman adds that the acquisition gives the purchaser significant market share with very limited competition: “Restrictive building regulations combined with the high cost of land in Santa Rosa severely limit any new competitors from entering the market.”

Meanwhile, Fair Mini Storage, a distressed 37,375 rentable square foot, self-storage located in Pensacola, FL, also has a new owner. It sold for $1 million.

Chico LeClaire, a senior vice president investments in Marcus & Millichap's Denver, office, Mele, and Luke Elliott, associate in the firm's Tampa, FL, office, represented the seller, a private investor based in Texas. Dave Knobler, a senior associate in Marcus & Millichap's Houston office secured and represented the buyer.

“Fair Mini Storage was the one of the few remaining distressed deals left over from the downturn," says Mele. Elliot says there we over nine offers with buyers ranging from California to Florida.

Finally, Safe and Sound Storage, a 797-unit, 82,949-square-foot self-storage facility in Jensen Beach, FL, sold for $8,600,000 or $135 per square foot. Mele says quality assets such as Safe and Sound are in high demand in the current commercial real estate investment environment

Mele and Luke represented the seller, a private investor. The duo also represented the buyer, a New York-based institutional investor.

“With this particular facility, the seller had been approached by several off-market buyers,” says Elliott. “Though our system we were able to bring in higher offers, manage the process, and ultimately put substantially more dollars in the seller's pocket.”