Strategic Storage Trust Inc., a public, non-traded self-storage REIT, has registered a $1 billion initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC deemed the companys registration filing effective on March 17, after a four-and-a-half month period, according to Powell Goldstein LLP, the law firm that assisted in the filing.
 
Incorporated last August with plans to qualify as a REIT beginning with the taxable year ending Dec. 31, 2008, Strategic Storage is offering up to 1 million shares of common stock at $10 per share. Funds from the IPO will be used to build up the company's portfolio through investments in self-storage facilities and related self-storage real estate. Shares will be offered until March 17, 2010.

Strategic Storage, which currently owns no properties, plans to target markets across the United States and possibly internationally.