Aries Capital, a commercial real estate mortgage and investment banking firm, is expanding its focus on the self-storage market, offering non-recourse permanent debt and bridge loans to self-storage operators nationwide. The company specializes in 10-year, fixed-rate financing for “cash-flowing properties through institutional lenders beyond a borrower’s local bank,” according to a press release.

“We are increasing our focus on self-storage, but we are not new to this segment,” said Eric Jones, vice president. “We’ve successfully closed transactions on behalf of self-storage clients and also own self-storage facilities ourselves. In fact, Aries is currently working on an adaptive re-use project in the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect, which will create a three-story, 657-unit self-storage facility.”

The company expects lenders to continue to view the self-storage market favorably. “Due to its proven market resiliency, tight supply and increased customer demand, fueled by a growing economy, appetite for multi-family living and propensity to move, self-storage should remain at the top of many Wall Street lenders’ lists,” said Rushi Shah, senior vice president. “Many owners, however, don’t realize that their properties are eligible for institutional loans, or they may be concerned that the process is too complex.”

Founded in 1991, Aries and its affiliates have arranged, as a financing intermediary or directly funded, more than $5 billion in debt and equity for self-storage, hotel, multi-family and other commercial properties in the Caribbean and United States. The company structures financing through direct relationships with Wall Street commercial mortgage backed securities lenders, hedge funds, life companies, regional banks and other institutional investors. The firm has also provided more than $500 million in mezzanine and tax-credit financing through affiliates, such as the Urban Development Fund, according to the release.