Investment manager Nuveen has bought a portfolio of four self-storage assets in the UK from Easistore.
The move forms a part of its European value add strategy and will be completed in partnership with Storage King, a Stor-Age company, which will be taking a minority stake in the joint venture and contributing 10% of the equity capital.
The portfolio consists of purpose-built facilities, measuring about 240,000 sq ft, in Crawley in West Sussex and Edenbridge, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells in Kent. It will be branded and managed by Storage King under its third-party management platform, Management 1st.
Nuveen plans to undertake initiatives to enhance the portfolio, including extensions at Crawley and Maidstone, a reconfiguration opportunity at Edenbridge, as well as increasing occupancy and rental levels across all assets.
David Pearce, fund manager of European real estate at Nuveen, said: “Over the last few months we have worked closely with our joint-venture partner, Stor-Age, to enter the UK self-storage market.
“Our focus is now on undertaking our business plan including rebranding the properties, leasing of the remaining vacant space, the potential for development and extension at some of the assets and, if the right opportunities arise, further growing our self-storage portfolio.”
To send feedback, e-mail evelina.grecenko@eg.co.uk or tweet @Gre_Eve or @EGPropertyNews
