Phoenix-based AMERCO Real Estate Co., the acquisition and development entity for The U-Haul Co., has purchased a former furniture store in Tulsa, Okla., that it will convert to a U-Haul rental and self-storage facility. The company acquired the Rooms Today store at 3500 S. Sheridan Road for $3.5 million from Mathis Brothers Furniture, according to the source.

Although the store closed last year, the owners had been trying to sell the property for the last five years, according to Dwayne Flynn, one of the brokers in the transaction. “They wanted to find a buyer that would buy the building but wouldn’t compete with them,” he told the source.

U-Haul plans to convert the 167,702-square-foot building to climate-controlled self-storage, said Jeff Lockridge, manager of media and public relations for U-Haul. The facility will also offer a hitch bay, moving and packing supplies, trailer and truck rentals, towing equipment, and U-Box container rentals. U-Haul is finalizing plans for the project and working with the city to obtain permitting for immediate trailer and truck rentals, Lockridge said. “Sometimes we’re able to get a temporary showroom open as we convert; other times we put out a temporary office trailer for rentals.”

Mathis Brothers acquired the building on Sheridan Road as well as other properties in 2003 from Evans Furniture, which built the site in 1972. The company has sold future at the location under several names, including Factory Direct.

Flynn, Bill Mizener and Ryan Shaffer of CBRE Inc. in Tulsa represented Mathis Brothers in the transaction. AMERCO was represented by Jami Gray of CBRE in Phoenix.

AMERCO is the parent company of U-Haul International, Oxford Life Insurance Co. and Repwest Insurance Co. Established in 1945, U-Haul has 40 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,200 owned and managed facilities throughout North America.

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