Silver Star Properties REIT Accelerates Its Efforts to Pursue Self-Storage Investing

Update 4/3/24 – In its quest to focus solely on the self-storage sector, Silver Star Properties borrowed $135 million to pay off its creditors. The company plans to liquidate its 4.2 million square feet of industrial, office and retail assets. The deal, which closed last week, will allow Silver Star to fund its Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization, which was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in February, according to the source.

Silver Star began selling its properties last year. Its remaining portfolio consists of 24 offices, two retail and one industrial property in the Dallas, Houston and San Antonio areas. Once these are sold, Silver Star expects to have about $370 million in available funds, which it intends to deploy in the self-storage sector.

4/10/23 – Silver Star Properties REIT Inc., a publicly registered, non-traded real estate investment trust, announced it will pivot away from light-industrial, office and retail assets to pursue opportunities in self-storage. As part of the transition, the company has acquired Southern Star Self-Storage Investment Co., which specializes in the sponsorship and management of Delaware statutory trust (DST) investments.

Launched in 2019, Southern Star operates nine self-storage facilities comprising 321,291 rentable square feet. Silver Star also has two acquisitions under contract that’ll add an additional 208,220 square feet to its portfolio. Those deals are expected to close by June 1. Most properties will be in secondary and tertiary markets in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, according to a press release.

“Southern Star Self-Storage will use its expertise in developing assets with DSTs and operate as a sister company alongside a subsidiary of current Silver Star Properties’ operations,” said Gerald Haddock, lead director. “Silver Star Properties intends to deploy its capital into the larger and more development-oriented assets in order to take advantage of the acquisition skillsets of the current management team.”

“I am honored to be leading, with the guidance of the executive committee, the repositioning pivot that we have been developing for several months, with the primary goal to maximize shareholder value and improve liquidity for our investors,” said CEO Mark Torok, who recently signed a three-year contract extension with Silver Star. “With it, we will shift our predominantly out-of-favor office assets into a stable, recession-resilient and growing subset of investment real estate.”

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Houston, Silver Star has experience in the acquisition, ownership, management and leasing of commercial-office, light-industrial, retail, self-storage and warehouse properties, primarily in Texas. It changed its name from Hartman Short Term Income Properties XX Inc. in December 2022.

Sources:
News Direct, Silver Star Properties Announces Approval of Pivot to Self-Storage and the Acquisition of Southern Star Self-Storage Investment Company
Connect CRE, Silver Star Pays Off Creditors, Shifts to Self-Storage
Commercial Property Executive, Silver Star Secures $135M Loan Package in Shift to Self Storage