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One of the region’s oldest self-storage brands is getting out of the business.

This week, Marcus & Millichap announced arranging the “nearly nine-figure sale” of five-property StorageBlue portfolio. The package comprises several multistory assets located in Hoboken, Jersey City, Union City, Newark and Garfield.

StorageBlue was co-founded by Alan Mruvka. The idea man behind E! Entertainment Television and FX Television became a trailblazer in the space when he, his father and two other partners launched their first 50,000-square-foot self-storage building in 1990.

Marcus & Millichap Senior Managing Directors Investments Nathan Coe, Gabriel Coe and Brett Hatcher represented the seller. The buyer was not disclosed. John Horowitz, senior vice president and division manager is Marcus & Millichap’s broker of record in New Jersey.

The portfolio includes both non- and climate-controlled units. All offer street frontage, outdoor parking, keypad entry system and 24-hour video surveillance.

“This sale represents the end of an era for one of the oldest self-storage brands in the Northeast,” said Nathan Coe, who is based in Marcus & Millichap’s Columbus, Ohio, office.

He described StorageBlue as “a staple over the past 30 years in the NYC Metro and Northern New Jersey self-storage market.”

Strong demand

In 2020, the company made the Inc. 5000 list.

Speaking to NJBIZ in 2022, Mruvka highlighted the importance of bringing forward thinking to the sector. In addition to tech advances that allowed customers to access facilities via their cellphones, he also took an out-of-the-box approach to promotion.

In the past, StorageBlue released a full-length music video.

“I’m building this brand … but I always tell people I’m building it like Branson built Virgin,” Mruvka said at the time. “Virgin was a record store. Now they’re sending people into space.

Nathan Coe said the sale is the team’s largest so far in 2024, underscoring the appetite for self-storage assets.

“The sale concluded following a highly competitive process with multiple offers from some of the largest private and public self-storage investors in the nation,” Nathan Coe said.

In its 2024 Market Outlook for the sector, Marcus & Millichap identified northern New Jersey as a growth area. The study pointed to increasing construction activity in response “robust and consistent demand from an affluent suburban clientele.”