By Kate Snyder
Seattle’s industrial market continues to draw investors’ attention with the recent sale of a self-storage facility in the city’s Greenwood district. The property traded at $30 million, or approximately $199 per square foot, according to King County property records. The buyer was an entity affiliated with InSite Property Group, and the seller was an entity affiliated with Thomas Nickerson, a managing member of Nickerson Properties LLC, a privately held real estate investment company based in Seattle.
Located at 9309 Aurora Ave. N, the site spans slightly more than one acre and consists of a single 150,138 square foot building, property records show. The asset breaks down into 133,248 square feet in warehouse space, 1,500 square feet in administrative office space and 15,390 square feet in basement storage and parking. The structure was built in 2019.
InSite is a vertically integrated self storage development, operations, acquisitions and management firm focused on institutional and emerging markets throughout the United States, according to the company’s website. The company has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Fla. and Newark, N.J. After development or acquisitions, the firm’s properties are operated by SecureSpace Self Storage, which is the company’s wholly-owned operating subsidiary.
The firm is no stranger to the Puget Sound region. Last year, an entity affiliated with InSite purchased Lake City Mini-Storage in Seattle for $18.5 million, or approximately $486 per square foot, according to The Registry’s previous reporting. The seller was an entity affiliated with Lake City Storage Partners LLC, North Storage Co-Investment No. 1 LLC, Independent Storage Associates LLC and Robert Morelli Family LLC. Located at 3116 and 3136 NE 130th St., that property is a 38,076 square foot building in the city’s Lake City neighborhood, sitting adjacent to the Olympic Hills and Cedar Park neighborhoods.
The Seattle area saw significant growth for the industrial market in the third quarter of 2023, according to a Seattle Industrial Market Report recently released by Kidder Mathews. Sales activity included the closing of 37 property deals in the third quarter, totaling $172 million, with an average price of $232.40 per square foot and an average capitalization rate of 6.07 percent, marking a 7.2 percent increase over the previous quarter.
