Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

ORGANIZATION AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS

v3.20.4
ORGANIZATION AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
ORGANIZATION AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS ORGANIZATION AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS
National Storage Affiliates Trust was organized in the state of Maryland on May 16, 2013 and is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust focused on the self storage sector. As used herein, "NSA," the "Company," "we," "our," and "us" refers to National Storage Affiliates Trust and its consolidated subsidiaries, except where the context indicates otherwise. The Company has elected and believes that it has qualified to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes ("REIT") commencing with its taxable year ended December 31, 2015.
Through its controlling interest as the sole general partner of NSA OP, LP (its "operating partnership"), a Delaware limited partnership formed on February 13, 2013, the Company is focused on the ownership, operation, and acquisition of self storage properties located within the top 100 MSAs in the United States. Pursuant to the Agreement of Limited Partnership (as amended, the "LP Agreement") of its operating partnership, the Company's operating partnership is authorized to issue preferred units, Class A Units ("OP units"), different series of Class B Units ("subordinated performance units"), and Long-Term Incentive Plan Units ("LTIP units"). The Company also owns certain of its self storage properties through other consolidated limited partnership subsidiaries of its operating partnership, which the Company refers to as "DownREIT partnerships." The DownREIT partnerships issue equity ownership interests that are intended to be economically equivalent to the Company's OP units ("DownREIT OP units") and subordinated performance units ("DownREIT subordinated performance units").
The Company owned 644 consolidated self storage properties in 33 states and Puerto Rico with approximately 39.3 million rentable square feet (unaudited) in approximately 309,000 storage units as of December 31, 2020. These properties are managed with local operational focus and expertise by the Company and its participating regional operators ("PROs"). These PROs are Kevin Howard Real Estate Inc., d/b/a Northwest Self Storage and its controlled affiliates ("Northwest"), Optivest Properties LLC and its controlled affiliates ("Optivest"), Guardian Storage Centers LLC and its controlled affiliates ("Guardian"), Move It Self Storage and its controlled affiliates ("Move It"), Arizona Mini Storage Management Company d/b/a Storage Solutions and its controlled affiliates ("Storage Solutions"), Hide-Away Storage Services, Inc. and its controlled affiliates ("Hide-Away"), an affiliate of Shader Brothers Corporation d/b/a Personal Mini Storage ("Personal Mini"), Southern Storage Management Systems, Inc. d/b/a Southern Self Storage ("Southern"), affiliates of Investment Real Estate Management, LLC d/b/a Moove In Self Storage ("Moove In") and Blue Sky Self Storage, LLC ("Blue Sky").
On March 31, 2020, the Company closed on the mergers of SecurCare Self Storage, Inc. and its controlled affiliates ("SecurCare"), which prior to the merger and internalization was the Company's largest PRO, and DLAN Corporation ("DLAN") with and into wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Company. As a result of the mergers, SecurCare's property management platform and related intellectual property were internalized by the Company, and the Company no longer pays any supervisory and administrative fees or reimbursements to SecurCare. In addition, distributions on the series of subordinated performance units related to SecurCare's managed portfolio were discontinued. As part of the internalization, most of SecurCare's employees and other key persons were offered and provided employment by the Company and continue managing SecurCare's portfolio of properties as members of the Company's existing property management platform.
As of December 31, 2020, the Company also managed through its property management platform an additional portfolio of 177 properties owned by the Company's unconsolidated real estate ventures. These properties contain approximately 12.7 million rentable square feet, configured in approximately 104,000 storage units and located across 21 states. The Company owns a 25% equity interest in each of its unconsolidated real estate ventures.
As of December 31, 2020, in total, the Company operated and held ownership interests in 821 self storage properties located across 36 states and Puerto Rico with approximately 52.0 million rentable square feet in approximately 413,000 storage units.