Crystal View Capital Fund II Increases Focus on Self-Storage Acquisitions

Private-investment firm Crystal View Capital is targeting self-storage properties more aggressively under its second private-equity fund, Crystal View Capital Fund II, according to recent reports. While the company’s initial fund spread investments across several property types, the new fund focuses only on manufactured homes and self-storage in the West. To date, 60 percent of the assets in the Fund II portfolio are self-storage compared to about 40 percent in Fund I, self-storage marketplace SpareFoot reported in its “Storage Beat” blog last week.

Since its launch in 2017, Fund II has raised $11.2 million of it $35 million target. In that time, it’s acquired five self-storage properties and expects to close on another $14 million in assets, including three storage properties, by mid-July, the source reported.

As part of its acquisition strategy, Crystal View uses an internal sales team to call self-storage operators seeking off-market deals. “Sometimes it takes years, but if the returns are there, it’s all worth it,” Matthew Ricciardella, principal and managing partner, told the source.

Under Fund II, the company looks for underperforming, class-B facilities in secondary markets that are owned and managed by a single operator. It typically prefers properties with a minimum monthly cash flow of about $25,000 and comprising between 40,000 and 120,000 square feet, according to the source.

In April, Crystal View announced it would make an 8 percent preferred distribution to the fund’s limited partners for the first quarter, which was equal to the distributions for each quarter in 2018.

Founded in 2014, Las Vegas-based Crystal View specializes in manufactured-housing and self-storage investments. Through its two funds, the company has raised nearly $20 million in equity capital and currently has approximately $60 million of assets, according to its website.

Sources:
SpareFoot Storage Beat, New Private Equity Fund Targets Off Market Deals to Grow Portfolio
Crystal View Capital, Website