Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust inked a deal to sell Simply Self Storage to Public Storage for $2.2B.

Simply Self Storage's portfolio consists of 127 properties measuring about 9M SF in 18 states. About 65% of the properties are in high-growth Sun Belt markets, according to BREIT.

The sale will net BREIT about $600M in profit amid some uncertainty for the investment giant's nontraded REIT. Demand for redemptions among investors is so brisk that Blackstone has limited withdrawals each of the last eight months.

The nontraded REIT has been selling other assets as well, including the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa in San Antonio for $800M to Ryman Hospitality Properties, a deal that was announced in June.

Prologis in June also agreed to purchase $3.1B worth of industrial property from Blackstone.

But even with some large sales, Blackstone reported a 96% drop in net realizations from real estate deals in its second-quarter earnings call last week. The company's distributable earnings for the quarter fell 40%.

The Simply Self Storage deal continues the expansion of Public Storage, which has grown its portfolio by about 55M SF over the last four years through $10.6B of acquisitions and development.

The self-storage industry grew rapidly leading up to the pandemic and during its first couple of years, but the sector has since returned to more normal growth rates.