The portfolio is selling for $55 per sf, far below replacement cost, according to LeClaire. "I've seen units sell for $60 per sf, and up to $100 per sf," he says. A decade ago, they were selling for $10 per sf.

LeClaire says he wouldn't be surprised if there is a bidding war for the portfolio. He recently sold a seven-property self-storage portfolio in IL to three investors for a total of $31 million. That sale, with 413,513 sf of rentable space, represented one of the highest prices ever paid per sf paid for a self-storage portfolio, LeClaire says. He plans to contact those buyers, as well as losing bidders on the Illinois projects, for the Colorado portfolio. "Portfolios like this don't come along very often," LeClaire says. "And with Denver's booming economy, self-storage units have very low vacancies."

The returns from the units are so strong--and are so low maintenance--that owners seldom sell, he says. Because self-storage units seldom hit the market, most brokers don't specialize in the niche, he explains. In addition to selling self-storage units, LeClaire owns a "state-of-the-art," 60,000-sf, two-story, self-storage center in Las Vegas. That facility has three elevators, so people can avoid the heat to check on belongings.