AURORA, CO | Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), a leading commercial real estate investment services firm with offices throughout the United States and Canada, has arranged the sale of a newly built Class A self-storage facility in Aurora, Colorado.

Charles “Chico” LeClaire and Adam Schlosser of Marcus & Millichap’s Denver office sold the facility to a public self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) after construction was completed but prior to leasing at “certificate of occupancy.” This marks the third deal of this kind that the LeClaire Group has sold in the last eight months.

“The sale represents a trend in the industry where developers decide to sell the property upon completion instead of taking on the lease-up risk,” says LeClaire. “This strategy works best with Class A assets in excellent locations. The buyers range from large private operators to national REITs that are interested in acquiring select properties. There are a lot of developers out there that would like to sell at the certificate of occupancy stage but the buyer pool is very small and the deals can be difficult to do.”

The 86,175-net-rentable-square-foot facility is located near the corner of East Iliff Avenue and Interstate 225 and features climate-controlled and non-climate-controlled units. Amenities include an institutional-quality leasing office, advanced security systems, 24-hour video surveillance, large freight elevators and a customer loading zone. The property is seen by over 150,000 cars per day due to its exceptional visibility and proximity to East Iliff Avenue and Interstate 225. A light rail train line that runs past the facility is scheduled for completion within the next few months. More than 187,000 people live within a three-mile radius of the property.