HFF Self Storage Team hosts Inaugural Storage Investor Caucus

The self storage professionals of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) announced today that they hosted the Storage Investor Caucus (SIC) on May 1st at the Downtown Club in Houston. Sixty storage owners, investors and affiliated industry professionals attended the full-day event.

Moderated by HFF senior managing director Aaron Swerdlin who leads the Houston-based HFF Self Storage team, the SIC program included a keynote capital markets overview presentation by HFF executive managing director Mark Gibson, capital markets and real estate panels featuring senior executives from eight lending organizations and property development firms/REITs, and roundtable discussions addressing many current self storage investment and real estate issues.

“The SIC convened top self storage operators, investors, portfolio owners, lenders and suppliers for a content-driven seminar covering the latest real estate and capital markets developments affecting our industry,” said Swerdlin. “The event’s attendance level exceeded our expectations and we believe is indicative of the strong interest by owners and investors for diverse, expert knowledge and direction about current market conditions.”

The SIC Capital Markets Panel consisted of:

· Cheri Grossman, Regional Director of Investments, Wrightwood Capital

· Rich Highfield, Principal, Real Estate Structured Finance Group, Bank of America

· Clay Wright, Vice President and Relationship Manager, Capital One

· Jeff Zickefoose, Director, Prudential Mortgage Capital Company

The SIC Real Estate panelists included:

· Bret Durfee, Vice President, Extra Space Storage

· Wayne Johnson, Senior Vice President – Acquisitions, Strategic Storage Trust

· Phyllis McArthur, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Morningstar Properties

· Tony Rider, Chief Financial Officer, Locke Acquisition Group, LLC (The Locke Group)

The SIC was sponsored by 1st Service Solutions, The Mahoney Group, Property Tax Advisors and The Rabco Corporation.

“The positive feedback we received from attendees, panelists and sponsors convinced us that owners and investors highly value this type of seminar because they can capitalize on the insight provided during the sessions to help maximize their storage investments. Given this response, the HFF Self Storage team will host another Storage Investor Caucus later this year in Southern California that will focus on West Coast-related real estate and capital markets conditions,” said Swerdlin.

HFF (NYSE: HF) operates out of 18 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry. HFF offers clients a fully integrated national capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, structured finance, private equity, note sales and note sale advisory services and commercial loan servicing.