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Amber Oak Storage & Square sold for $2,835,000 million, or $36.94 per square foot.

Real estate firm The Hampshire Cos. is preparing to open a new 81,300-square-foot, 600-unit self-storage facility in Hackensack, N.J.

Virtus Real Estate has added to its Memphis portfolio, acquiring two more self-storage centers in the area for an undisclosed amount.

Strategic Storage Trust Inc., a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust focusing on self-storage, recently acquired more than an 80 percent interest in a 10-property portfolio worth nearly $37.6 million.

Most investors have come to understand the critical role of diversifying asset strategies. In doing so, many investors have expanded into the “fourth asset class” ­called real estate.

Oklahoma self-storage property sales lagged in 2009 and 2010 as tight financing thwarted investors.

As with all real estate asset classes in recent years, the self-storage industry has experienced challenges to financing both for existing properties as well as sourcing funds for new projects. Developers who were ready to build suddenly found their funding resources dry up. In addition, a decade-long rapid-build phase had led to overbuilt markets, giving lenders yet another reason to pull the plug on self-storage lending.

Virtus Real Estate, an Austin-based real estate private equity firm, plans to acquire about $150 million in self-storage properties in 2011 and start a new student housing fund, the company said in a news release.

The company’s total number of stores in the region to 16.

U-Store-It Buys Brooklyn, Bronx Self-Storage Facilities Totaling 114,500 SF