Clarion Partners, LLC, a leading real estate investment manager, and partner Private Mini Storage, today announced the sale of their 30-property, 2.35 million square foot storage portfolio for $257.9 million. The assets are located in Houston, TX, Austin, TX and Charlotte, NC. The acquisition of 29 self-storage facilities located in Houston and Austin, Texas offer the investor an excellent opportunity to acquire a geographic concentration and critical operating mass in both markets. Aaron Swerdlin of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank was engaged to advise the partnership in the transaction.

With occupancy stabilized and strong interest in the sector from public REITs, the partners believed that a portfolio sale would command favorable pricing. The current overall occupancy rate is 88% and the portfolio produces a stable cash flow. All three markets are characterized by strong economies with robust job expansion, a healthy housing market and high growth suburbs, supporting the fundamentals of the transaction.

“Our initial objective in assembling this portfolio was to acquire high quality assets in desirable growth areas along highly visible traffic corridors and to add value by expanding the assets, modifying unit mixes, improving management and executing some ground-up development. We have achieved our objectives, stabilized the assets, and are now taking advantage of solid market fundamentals to sell the portfolio to operators in the sector,” said Jason Glasser at Clarion Partners. “We are active portfolio managers, and this transaction is appropriate to the long-term strategy of the owner.”

About Clarion Partners LLC

Clarion Partners has been a leading U.S. real estate investment manager for over 30 years. Headquartered in New York, the firm has offices in major markets throughout the U.S., in São Paulo, Brazil and London, England as wellas a presence in Mexico. With $28.6 billion in total assets under management, Clarion Partners offers a broad range of real estate strategies across the risk/return spectrum to its more than 200 domestic and international institutional investors.For more information about the firm is available at www.clarionpartners.com.

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