Public Storage Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT), recently acquired a bank-owned, 1.3-acre property in Seattle for $3 million. The REIT intends to build a six-story facility comprising 218,500 square feet of storage space in nearly 1,900 units. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer and will take about a year, according to Mitch Johnson, the REIT’s director of real estate acquisitions in the Northwest.

The property at 1200 S. Dearborn St. was previously owned by local developer Michael R. Mastro and his wife, Linda, who were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2012 on 43 counts of bankruptcy fraud and money laundering, according to the source.

The Mastros’ company, Mastro Properties, purchased the parcel in 2007 for nearly $6.2 million. In 2008, the company applied for a master-use permit to develop a 328,700-square-foot storage facility; but a year later, three banks petitioned to force the company into bankruptcy. Mastro had borrowed more than $4 million from Columbia Bank, one of the petitioning lenders, for the project, according to the source.

Around the time of their indictment, the Mastros reportedly fled the United States with suitcases filled with jewelry and designer clothes. The couple was later arrested in France but eventually released. French authorities refused to extradite them back to the U.S. because officials here wouldn’t guarantee the couple would avoid jail if convicted, the source reported. Michael Mastro was 87 years old and Linda 62 at the time of their indictment, according to the FBI.

"I just hope we find some of [the] diamond rings on the site, but I don't think it's going to happen," Johnson joked to the source.

Seattle architecture firm BCRA Inc. designed the Public Storage project, and general contractor Foushee & Associates is in line to manage the construction, although a contract has not yet been signed, the source reported.

Based in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage has interests in more than 2,250 self-storage facilities in 38 states, with approximately 146 million net rentable square feet. Operating under the Shurgard brand name, the company also has 193 facilities in seven European countries, with approximately 10 million net rentable square feet.

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