A Santa Monica-based self-storage operator just more than doubled the size of one of its investment funds, closing a $110.9 million deal that folds nine operating StorQuest facilities into a portfolio stretching from Northern California to the Big Island of Hawaii. The move pushes the fund from eight properties to 17, with a gross asset value now sitting at $196 million.
William Warren Group Self Storage Income Fund, L.P. closed the contribution of nine operating StorQuest Self Storage facilities, according to Connect CRE. The newly added properties bring roughly 410,000 rentable square feet into the fund, located in San Rafael, Oakland, West Los Angeles, West Sacramento, Bakersfield, Palm Springs, Sun City, Arizona, Reno, Nevada, and Hilo, Hawaii, per the outlet's reporting.
A Fund That Now Spans Six States
With the nine facilities added, the fund now spans six states, with more than 845,000 rentable square feet and 9,100 units across its full portfolio, Connect CRE reports. That geographic spread, running from the Bay Area suburbs through the Arizona desert and out to the Hawaiian islands, reflects a broader push by William Warren Group, the parent company of StorQuest Self Storage, to consolidate scattered holdings under a single investment vehicle.
The deal was financed in part by a new $200 million credit facility from Wells Fargo, the same reporting shows. On the investor side, those who held equity in the contributed properties rolled approximately 80% of their equity into fund units through a tax-deferred Section 721 exchange — a structure that let participants shift their stakes into the larger fund without triggering an immediate tax hit on the swap.
Leadership Frames the Deal as Validation
Bill Hobin, CEO of the Santa Monica-based William Warren Group, said the contribution reflected the strength of the company's strategy, operating platform and the self-storage sector more broadly, according to the same account. It's the kind of statement expected from a company exec after a deal this size, but it also lands at a moment when the self-storage investment market has been showing signs of life even as rental rates soften.
Separately, industry data cited by Yardi Matrix indicates national advertised self-storage rates fell 1.8% year over year in September 2026, a figure the firm attributes to faltering demand nationally. At the same time, supply growth has been slowing: self-storage inventory was projected to expand just 2.2% in 2026, with 53 million square feet of completions marking the smallest delivery slate since 2016, according to CRE Daily. Despite softer rents, transaction activity and deal volume both increased during the first half of 2026, which Marcus & Millichap describes as a sign of continued recovery in the sector.
Part of a Broader Pattern of Financing Moves
This isn't the first time this year William Warren Group has leaned on outside capital to grow its StorQuest footprint. Back in February, the company secured a $42.6 million debt package tied to three other facilities in Hawthorne, California; Waipahu, Hawaii; and Denver, with MetLife and Barclays providing the funds, according to Commercial Observer. The largest of those three loans was a $25 million, five-year MetLife loan tied to the 113,745-square-foot Hawthorne property, while Barclays originated a $9 million loan for the Waipahu facility and an $8 million loan for the Denver site, both structured with 10-year terms as commercial mortgage-backed securities loans.
That earlier financing was arranged by Talonvest Capital's Eric Snyder, Kim Bishop, Will Hainlen and Lauren Maehler, the same outlet reported. Taken together, the two deals this year show a company steadily layering new debt and equity structures onto its self-storage holdings even as the broader rental market cools, betting that slower new construction and a rebounding deal market will work in its favor.
