LADERA RANCH, Calif. – August 1, 2016 –SmartStop Asset Management, LLC, a diversified real estate company with nearly $1 billion in assets under management, has hired John Strockis, a senior real estate executive with extensive experience in acquisitions, asset management, business development and brokerage leadership, as senior vice president of acquisitions. Strockis will be responsible for leveraging SmartStop’s existing platform and relationships to expand its real estate product offerings.

“John is a dynamic leader with an extensive network and business development experience,” said H. Michael Schwartz, chairman/CEO of Smartstop Asset Management, LLC. “He will launch Smartstop’s 1031 exchange offerings to help us diversify our commercial property opportunities.”

Strockis will head a new division actively seeking commercial properties in retail, multifamily, industrial, office and medical/healthcare for property exchanges under Section 1031 of the United States Revenue Code, which states that certain properties can defer capital gains taxes.

“The market is good and it’s a very opportunistic time for us to expand our product offerings to the 1031 exchange market,” Strockis said. “I’m excited to be connected with H. Michael Schwartz, a respected and prolific real estate capital markets professional. This is an incredible opportunity to leverage his success on the storage side.”

Strockis worked for the Los Angeles division of CB Richard Ellis & CBRE Investors, the world’s largest full-service real estate company, from 1984 until 2008, as a broker, sales manager, managing director r and Sr. Director of Acquisitions while at CBRE Investors. In 1999 and 2000, he received the company’s James Didion Leadership Award for Most Outstanding Manager. He also served as executive managing director for Voit Real Estate Services in Newport Beach, Calif.; chief executive officer for Marwest Commercial serving California, Arizona and Nevada; and executive managing director for Real Estate Services Company in Orange County. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

About SmartStop Asset Management, LLC

SmartStop Asset Management, LLC is a diversified real estate company with a managed portfolio that currently includes approximately 57,100 self storage units and approximately 6.2 million rentable square feet. The company is the asset manager for 86 self storage facilities located throughout the United States and Toronto, Canada. SmartStop Asset Management is the sponsor of both SSGT and Strategic Storage Trust II, Inc. (SSTII), a public non-traded REIT focusing on stabilized self storage properties. The facilities offer affordable and accessible storage units for residential and commercial customers. In addition, they offer secure interior and exterior storage units as well as outside storage areas for vehicles, RVs and boats. In 2015, key executives at Smartstop Asset Management negotiated the sale of SmartStop Self Storage Inc. (Smartstop), then a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed self storage company, owning and/or operating 170 self storage properties in 21 states and Toronto, Canada, to Extra Space Storage Inc., the second-largest storage operator in the United States, in a merger transaction with SmartStop having an enterprise value of $1.4 billion.