Two self-storage facilities in Los Angeles County recently sold for $26 million. The seller was a local private party, and the buyer was an affiliate of a real estate investment trust specializing in self-storage properties.

El Dorado Park Self Storage in east Long Beach contains more than 87,000 net rentable square feet and 825 units. The second facility, 405 Self Storage in the Hawthorne area, has about 87,000 net rentable square feet of self-storage space with 770 units. 

This was a very rare opportunity to purchase two trophy quality properties in high-density coastal L.A. County locations, said Dean Keller, president of Bancap Self Storage Group Inc., and the sole broker in the transaction. These are the types of properties that every self-storage investor would love to owngreat infill locations, strong markets, good occupancy and first-class construction.

The price represented a capitalization rate on the current net operating income. The all-cash transaction equaled nearly $150 per net rentable square foot.

Other than a couple of portfolio transactions, there have been very few non-distressed self-storage properties that have sold in Southern California this past year, Keller said. Most owners think they cannot obtain a good price in todays market, but that just is not the case. The key for the seller is to hire a self-storage broker with a proven track record of getting the highest and best price possible. Self-storage is such a unique property type and it takes a very specific expertise with decades of experience to maximize value for sellers in this unique property niche.

Bancap Self Storage Group has more than $900 million in completed self-storage sales, including many lender-owned properties and numerous portfolio sales.