665-Unit Storage Asset Pulls About $3M

The buyer is a family trust from Utah, with other self-storage properties just like the other two would-be takers with full price offers on the table. Chris Deuillet of Marcus & Millichap in Dallas tells GlobeSt.com that Shoreline Self-Storage was won by the buyer's commitment and ready capital from the sale of a mobile home park in New Mexico.

The 11.5-acre Crowley property fronts Texas 121 near Benbrook Reservoir in Tarrant County. Four small rental houses, three of which are occupied, were part of the sale.

A breakdown of the purchase price works out to slightly less than $2.8 million for the self-storage complex and $700,000 for the extra seven acres. The $16 per sf "is a good value," Deuillet says, adding that the extension of Texas 121 from Dallas to Corsicana builds in upside for the existing 150,000 sf and the development to come.

The boat and RV component was 95% leased at sale time while the climate-controlled units were 50% occupied. Deuillet says the listing generated 13 offers, mostly all from self-storage operators, in a three-month marketing period.

The seller is a Fort Worth-based investment group and developer of self-storage properties. Shoreline Self-Storage Inc. acquired the holding in 1994 and expanded it in stages over the next five years. The developer now is looking for land to build another self-storage complex, according to Deuillet.

The broker says the Utah buyer financed the purchase with a loan of about $2.7 million, representing 75% loan to value. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's New York City office provided a conduit loan with a five-year term and fixed interest rate.

The Utah-based family trust is poised to close on another self-storage complex in Tarrant County to deliver "economies of scale" on the management side, says Deuillet. He and Roger Hendricks in Marcus & Millichap's Dallas office brokered for the seller while the buyer bargained with an in-house representative.