SmartStop Asset Management Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

By Adriana Pop

Ladera Ranch, Calif.—SmartStop Asset Management LLC is celebrating its one-year anniversary with nearly $1 billion in assets under management. The company now manages a portfolio that includes approximately 59,400 self-storage units and approximately 6.7 million rentable square feet. SmartStop Asset Management is the asset manager for 89 self-storage facilities located throughout the United States and Toronto, Canada. The company has also raised more than $450 million for self-storage acquisitions.

Michael Schwartz, president & CEO of SmartStop Asset Management

SmartStop Asset Management achieved these milestones one year after its executives negotiated the sale of SmartStop Self Storage Inc. to Extra Space Storage Inc. The approximately $1.4 billion merger transaction ranks as the largest self-storage deal in the last decade. The move was recognized as one of the most innovative corporate strategies in the sixth annual CPE Distinguished Achievement Awards.

“We are extremely excited to celebrate our 12-month anniversary as we have successfully achieved all our acquisition, operational and marketing goals for the year,” Michael Schwartz, president & CEO of SmartStop Asset Management, said in prepared remarks. “From an operational perspective, we have created a solid platform for vast growth in 2017 and beyond.”

SmartStop Asset Management is also the sponsor of two programs formed in 2013: Strategic Storage Trust II Inc. (SST II), a public non-traded REIT that focuses on stabilized self-storage properties, and Strategic Storage Growth Trust Inc. (SSGT), a public non-traded REIT that focuses on development, lease up and growth-oriented self-storage assets.

SmartStop Asset Management has also completed a $35 million, 120,000-square-foot, technologically advanced mixed-use facility in Ladera Ranch, Calif., which includes the Ladera Sports Center, a 63,000-square-foot gymnasium; a 42,000-square-foot self-storage facility; and more than 16,000 square feet of office space.

The building’s fourth-floor office space is home to SmartStop Asset Management, offering sweeping views including ocean vistas. The company’s loft-style headquarters at 10 Terrace Road has open ceilings, huge windows and glass walls that allow natural light into the majority of the space. Automatic blinds attached to solar sensors on the roof control the incoming light. The office also features four high-tech conference rooms, a large break room, a call center and a server room with hot and cold aisle systems for maximum efficiency.

“Our new SmartStop Asset Management state-of-the-art headquarters will help us continue to grow and prosper,” added Schwartz, who designed and financed the entire mixed-use facility, and currently owns the Ladera Sports Center and office space. “SmartStop Asset Management’s current managed self-storage portfolio includes institutional-grade assets that exhibit strong demographics, have consistently high traffic counts and are located in active markets.”

SmartStop Asset Management recently launched a new division actively seeking student and senior housing, as well as self-storage properties for exchanges under Section 1031 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, which defers capital gains taxes on the transfer of real estate assets.

Image courtesy of SmartStop Asset Management