SmartStop Self Storage has closed on the acquisition of a five-property, Bluebird-managed self-storage portfolio in Alberta from a joint venture led by Harrison Street, completing one of the province’s marquee storage trades of 2025. JLL marketed the offering on behalf of the sellers. The portfolio comprises approximately 329,919 rentable square feet across 3,095 units, with locations in Canmore, Cochrane, Sherwood Park, Edmonton, and Red Deer. Pricing was not disclosed at closing.
JBW Commercial served as buy-side advisor to SmartStop. The engagement included market diligence, underwriting support, and transaction coordination from initial bid through closing, helping the buyer navigate local fundamentals, operating assumptions, and value-creation pathways across the five assets.
Originally positioned as the “Alberta Five Property Self Storage Portfolio,” the offering provided immediate provincial scale with multiple levers for revenue growth. At the time of marketing, physical occupancy was in the mid-70s, giving the buyer a clear runway to drive lease-up while executing disciplined in-place rent adjustments and dynamic pricing. Modern branding, centralized digital marketing, and standardized operating practices implemented under Bluebird provide strong continuity and a clean platform for post-close optimization.
The facilities in this portfolio offers a mix of urban and suburban sites at different levels of stabilization. That balance delivers both durable cash flow and identifiable operational upside for the new operator. Post-close priorities are expected to focus on refining unit-mix pricing, sharpening promotion cadence to protect street rates while lifting achieved rents, and targeted capex to elevate curb appeal and ancillary revenue streams while also improving occupancy with improved marketing from the SmartStop marketing team.
This closing also illustrates broader themes shaping Western Canada’s storage market in 2025. Institutional owners that aggregated scale during the 2020–2022 expansion phase are selectively recycling capital as financing conditions normalize, realizing gains from operating improvements rather than pure cap-rate compression. Meanwhile, Alberta’s comparatively thin near-term supply pipeline particularly in infill and high-barrier submarkets continues to underpin investor conviction in value-add plays where NOI can be grown through lease-up and rate management.
For SmartStop, the acquisition enhances brand visibility and customer reach across key Alberta trade areas while adding meaningful cash flows to their growing portfolio of Alberta properties. With strong tenant “stickiness,” established digital funnels, and supportive macro drivers from population growth and sustained rental-housing pressure, the assets are well positioned for near-term performance gains.
As integration progresses, attention will turn to execution: accelerating lease-up from a mid-70s baseline, calibrating renewal and in-place increases, and sequencing operational upgrades at the store level. With the August 26, 2025, closing now complete, the transaction underscores continued institutional appetite for scaled, operationally modern portfolios in Alberta and highlights JBW Commercial’s role in helping institutional buyers convert market opportunities into long term returns.
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Patrick Wood PREC and Connor Braid PREC are Partners with JBW Commercial.