Morningstar pays $30M for self-storage facilities in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village

Morningstar Properties bought two self-storage facilities in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village neighborhood for almost $30 million.

Alan Hooper and Tim Petrillo’s Urban Street Development, through an affiliate, sold the two adjacent properties at 421 Northwest First Avenue and 125 Northwest Fourth Street, according to a deed.

The real estate was rebranded from Extra Space Storage to Morningstar Storage, which is owned and operated by Morningstar Properties.

The building along First Avenue totals 85,479 square feet and was constructed in 2010 on a half-acre lot, property records show. The facility along Fourth Street is 50,200 square feet and was constructed in 2018 on a quarter-acre lot.

Fort Lauderdale-based Urban Street Development paid a combined $3.1 million for the lots in two deals in 2008 and 2016, according to deeds.

Urban Street is a real estate development firm that traces its roots to 1996 when Hooper and Petrillo started investing in a long-overlooked Fort Lauderdale area along Southwest Second Street, according to its website. The firm’s projects include The Forge Lofts at 401 Northwest First Avenue, next to the self-storage facilities, with 35 apartments designed to evoke a modern, industrial feel.

Urban Street’s hospitality arm, The Restaurant People, includes restaurants Yolo and Boatyard in Fort Lauderdale.

Morningstar Properties, based in Matthews, North Carolina, is a developer, owner and operator of real estate, focused on marinas and self-storage in the Southeast, according to its website. The company, led by CEO Dave Benson, has developed about 250 self-storage projects across the U.S., totaling more than 15 million square feet since 1981.

Flagler Village, once an overlooked industrial neighborhood, has been redeveloped with multifamily projects, as well as retail and restaurants in retrofitted warehouses. It includes FATVillage, which stands for Flagler Arts and Technology, a four-block area that traditionally was a warehouse district but has been redeveloped to attract edgy retailers, as well as arts and tech companies.

Among the latest developments planned for Flagler Village is Prospect Real Estate Group’s 12-story Advantis Station at Flagler Village. The apartment building will be built on a 1.4-acre site at the northeast corner of Sistrunk Boulevard and Northeast Third Avenue, which Prospect purchased this month for $11 million.