REIT Buys Toronto Self Storage Facility

1120 Dupont St. Image courtesy of Strategic Storage Growth Trust II Inc.

Strategic Storage Growth Trust II Inc., a private REIT sponsored by a subsidiary of SmartStop Self Storage REIT Inc., has acquired a newly completed, approximately 735-unit self-storage facility in Toronto.

The six-story facility at 1120 Dupont St. is on a 0.3-acre site and totals about 47,000 net rentable square feet of self-storage units. It was completed earlier this year and features climate-controlled units, elevator access, a drive-in loading area and video surveillance. The property is only 3 miles from the downtown core and in an area with 15,000 new residential units planned or under construction.

SmartStop is a self-managed REIT and the United States’ 10th-largest self-storage company, with about $1.4 billion of real estate assets under management, including a portfolio of more than 132 properties totaling about 88,000 units and 10 million rentable square feet. SmartCentres owns and manages 34 million square feet in value-oriented, principally Walmart-anchored retail centers. 

SSGT II did not respond to Commercial Property Executive’s request for further information.

A shortage of storage

In April, StorageVault, one of Canada’s largest self-storage companies, bought a portfolio of 38 properties, 25 of which are in Ontario. The $205.7 million acquisition brought StorageVault’s platform to 199 locations across Canada.

Earlier this year, The Globe and Mail reported on a surge of storage facility construction, especially multi-story structures, in Greater Toronto. The paper quoted Clive Bradley, self-storage group practice lead for CBRE, who estimated the metro area’s self-storage demand at about 4 square feet per person, versus a current supply of 2 to 3 square feet per person.