Morgan Stanley invests in N.O.-based Safeguard

NEW YORK — Morgan Stanley Real Estate's Prime Property Fund (PRIME) announced today that it has acquired an interest in New Orleans-based Safeguard Storage Properties LLC in a joint venture with Safeguard's existing management team. The joint venture also acquired one additional storage property bringing the total capitalization to more than $400 million.

Senior professionals from both PRIME and Safeguard will comprise the company's management committee; Safeguard management will continue to manage day-to-day activities.

"Positive self-storage fundamentals include an increasingly mobile population and strong population and renter-household growth," said Dave Hardman, managing director and U.S. head of Real Estate Investing at Morgan Stanley. "While these fundamentals are similar to multifamily, we believe that self-storage will deliver better yields in the near-term. Additionally, Safeguard's focus on densely populated, underserved urban markets with high barriers to entry, which is not typical in the self-storage industry, makes it an excellent investment for PRIME."

Safeguard owns 56 self-storage stores totaling approximately 3.2 million square feet, comprised of both operating properties and stores under development. The properties are newly constructed, state-of-the-art facilities, including climate control, video surveillance and alarms, single point of entry and enhanced receiving capabilities. Additionally, a vertical orientation enables facilities to fit efficiently on small infill urban land parcels.

http://bizneworleans.com/109+M59b24867520.html

I'm always amazed at the number of storage facilities that keep cropping up. I mean, do we really collect that much stuff that we need to rent additional space to store the stuff that no longer fits at home?