Organization	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Organization	Note 1. Organization Strategic Storage Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company”), was formed on August 14, 2007 under the Maryland General Corporation Law for the purpose of engaging in the business of investing in self storage facilities. The Company’s year-end is December 31. As used in this report, “we” “us” and “our” refer to Strategic Storage Trust, Inc. Strategic Capital Holdings, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company (our “Sponsor”), is our sponsor. Our Sponsor was formed on July 21, 2004 to engage in private structured offerings of limited partnerships and other entities with respect to the acquisition, management and disposition of commercial real estate assets. Our Sponsor owns a majority of Strategic Storage Holdings, LLC, which is the sole member of both our advisor and our property manager. Our advisor is Strategic Storage Advisor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (our “Advisor”) which was formed on August 13, 2007. Our Advisor is responsible for managing our affairs on a day-to-day basis and identifying and making acquisitions and investments on our behalf under the terms of an advisory agreement we have with our Advisor (our “Advisory Agreement”). Some of the officers of our Advisor are also officers of our Sponsor and of us. On August 24, 2007, our Advisor purchased 100 shares of our common stock for $1,000 and became our initial stockholder. Our Articles of Amendment and Restatement authorize 700,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.001 and 200,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.001. Our operating partnership, Strategic Storage Operating Partnership, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (our “Operating Partnership”), was formed on August 14, 2007. On August 24, 2007, our Advisor purchased a limited partnership interest in our Operating Partnership for $200,000 and on August 24, 2007, we contributed the initial $1,000 capital contribution we received to our Operating Partnership in exchange for the general partner interest. Our Operating Partnership owns, directly or indirectly through one or more special purpose entities, all of the self storage properties that we have acquired. As of December 31, 2013, we owned 99.28% of the limited partnership interests of our Operating Partnership. The remaining limited partnership interests are owned by our Advisor (0.04%) and unaffiliated third parties (0.68%). As the sole general partner of our Operating Partnership, we have the exclusive power to manage and conduct business of our Operating Partnership. We will conduct certain activities (such as selling packing supplies and locks and renting trucks or other moving equipment) through our taxable REIT subsidiaries (the “TRSs”), which are our wholly-owned subsidiaries. Our property manager is Strategic Storage Property Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (our “Property Manager”), which was formed in August 2007 to manage our properties. Our Property Manager derives substantially all of its income from the property management services it performs for us. On March 17, 2008, we began our initial public offering of common stock (our “Initial Offering”). On May 22, 2008, we satisfied the minimum offering requirements of the Initial Offering and commenced formal operations. On September 16, 2011, we terminated the Initial Offering, having sold approximately 29 million shares for gross proceeds of approximately $289 million. On September 22, 2011, we commenced our follow-on public offering of stock for a maximum of 110,000,000 shares of common stock, consisting of 100,000,000 shares for sale to the public (our “Primary Offering”) and 10,000,000 shares for sale pursuant to our distribution reinvestment plan (collectively, our “Offering”). Our Offering terminated on September 22, 2013. On September 18, 2013, our board of directors amended and restated our distribution reinvestment plan, effective September 28, 2013, to make certain minor revisions related to the closing of our Offering. Following the termination of our Offering, on September 23, 2013, we filed with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-3, which incorporated the amended and restated distribution reinvestment plan and registered up to an additional $51.25 million in shares under our amended and restated distribution reinvestment plan (our “DRP Offering”). The DRP Offering may be terminated at any time upon 10 days’ prior written notice to stockholders. As of December 31, 2013, we had issued approximately 0.4 million shares of common stock for approximately $4.4 million in our DRP Offering. As of December 31, 2013, we had issued approximately 54.1 million shares of common stock for approximately $549 million in our Initial Offering, Offering and our DRP Offering and also issued 6.2 million shares of common stock in a private offering in connection with the 2009 private REIT mergers discussed herein. In connection with the close-down of our Offering and in light of current market conditions, our board of directors has been and is continuing to explore certain strategic alternatives to create stockholder liquidity. Over several months, we interviewed several investment banking firms to assist us in this process. After this extensive interview process, on May 30, 2013, we engaged Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to help us analyze these strategic alternatives. Our management and our board of directors are also exploring the possibility of becoming self-administered. However, there can be no assurance that the exploration of strategic alternatives will result in any particular outcome. In anticipation of a future possible liquidity event, on November 1, 2013, our board of directors approved the termination of our share redemption program, effective December 1, 2013. See Note 8. On April 2, 2012, our board of directors determined our estimated per share value of our common stock to be $10.79. Such amount was calculated based on the estimated value of our assets less the estimated value of our liabilities, or net asset value, divided by the number of shares outstanding on an adjusted fully diluted basis, calculated as of December 31, 2011. In light of the above-described net asset value calculation, our board of directors determined that it was appropriate to increase the per share offering price for new purchases of our shares commencing on June 1, 2012. This determination by our board of directors was subjective and was primarily based on (i) the estimated net asset value per share, which was predominantly based on an independent third party appraiser’s valuation of our properties as of December 31, 2011, (ii) the commissions and dealer manager fees payable in connection with the offering of our shares, (iii) our historical and anticipated results of operations and financial condition, (iv) our current and anticipated distribution payments, (v) our current and anticipated capital and debt structure, and (vi) our Advisor’s recommendations and assessment of our prospects and continued execution of our investment and operating strategies. Our dealer manager is Select Capital Corporation, a California corporation (our “Dealer Manager”). Our Dealer Manager was responsible for marketing our shares that were offered pursuant to the Offering. Our chief executive officer, through a wholly-owned limited liability company, owns a 15% non-voting equity interest in our Dealer Manager. As we accept subscriptions for shares of our common stock, we transfer substantially all of the net offering proceeds to our Operating Partnership as capital contributions in exchange for additional units of interest in our Operating Partnership. However, we are deemed to have made capital contributions in the amount of the gross offering proceeds received from investors, and our Operating Partnership is deemed to have simultaneously paid the sales commissions and other costs associated with the Offering. In addition, our Operating Partnership is structured to make distributions with respect to limited partnership units (except for Class D units) that will be equivalent to the distributions made to holders of our common stock. In March 2011, we adopted Amendment No. 1 to our Operating Partnership’s First Amended and Restated Limited Partnership Agreement, which established Class D Units, and our Operating Partnership issued approximately 120,000 Class D Units in connection with our acquisition of the Las Vegas VII and Las Vegas VIII properties. The Class D Units have all of the rights, powers, duties and preferences of our Operating Partnership’s other limited partnership units, except that they are subject to an annual distribution limit (initially zero percent) and the holders of the Class D Units have agreed to modified exchange rights that prevent them from exercising their exchange rights until the occurrence of a specified event (see Note 8). Finally, a limited partner in our Operating Partnership may later exchange his or her limited partnership units in our Operating Partnership for shares of our common stock at any time after one year following the date of issuance of their limited partnership units, subject to certain restrictions as outlined in the limited partnership agreement. Our Advisor is prohibited from exchanging or otherwise transferring its limited partnership units so long as it is acting as our Advisor pursuant to our Advisory Agreement. As of December 31, 2013, we wholly-owned 122 self storage facilities located in 17 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia) and Canada comprising approximately 77,375 units and approximately 10.2 million rentable square feet. As of December 31, 2013, we also had noncontrolling interests in three additional self storage facilities. Of those interests, one has been deemed to be a controlling interest and is therefore consolidated in our consolidated financial statements as discussed in Note 2. Additionally, we have an interest in a net leased industrial property in California with 356,000 rentable square feet leased to a single tenant.

Note 1. Organization

Strategic Storage Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the “Company”), was formed on August 14, 2007 under the Maryland General Corporation Law for the purpose of engaging in the business of investing in self storage facilities. The Company’s year-end is December 31. As used in this report, “we” “us” and “our” refer to Strategic Storage Trust, Inc.

Strategic Capital Holdings, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company (our “Sponsor”), is our sponsor. Our Sponsor was formed on July 21, 2004 to engage in private structured offerings of limited partnerships and other entities with respect to the acquisition, management and disposition of commercial real estate assets. Our Sponsor owns a majority of Strategic Storage Holdings, LLC, which is the sole member of both our advisor and our property manager.

Our advisor is Strategic Storage Advisor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (our “Advisor”) which was formed on August 13, 2007. Our Advisor is responsible for managing our affairs on a day-to-day basis and identifying and making acquisitions and investments on our behalf under the terms of an advisory agreement we have with our Advisor (our “Advisory Agreement”). Some of the officers of our Advisor are also officers of our Sponsor and of us.

On August 24, 2007, our Advisor purchased 100 shares of our common stock for $1,000 and became our initial stockholder. Our Articles of Amendment and Restatement authorize 700,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.001 and 200,000,000 shares of preferred stock with a par value of $0.001.

Our operating partnership, Strategic Storage Operating Partnership, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (our “Operating Partnership”), was formed on August 14, 2007. On August 24, 2007, our Advisor purchased a limited partnership interest in our Operating Partnership for $200,000 and on August 24, 2007, we contributed the initial $1,000 capital contribution we received to our Operating Partnership in exchange for the general partner interest. Our Operating Partnership owns, directly or indirectly through one or more special purpose entities, all of the self storage properties that we have acquired. As of December 31, 2013, we owned 99.28% of the limited partnership interests of our Operating Partnership. The remaining limited partnership interests are owned by our Advisor (0.04%) and unaffiliated third parties (0.68%). As the sole general partner of our Operating Partnership, we have the exclusive power to manage and conduct business of our Operating Partnership. We will conduct certain activities (such as selling packing supplies and locks and renting trucks or other moving equipment) through our taxable REIT subsidiaries (the “TRSs”), which are our wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Our property manager is Strategic Storage Property Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (our “Property Manager”), which was formed in August 2007 to manage our properties. Our Property Manager derives substantially all of its income from the property management services it performs for us.

On March 17, 2008, we began our initial public offering of common stock (our “Initial Offering”). On May 22, 2008, we satisfied the minimum offering requirements of the Initial Offering and commenced formal operations. On September 16, 2011, we terminated the Initial Offering, having sold approximately 29 million shares for gross proceeds of approximately $289 million. On September 22, 2011, we commenced our follow-on public offering of stock for a maximum of 110,000,000 shares of common stock, consisting of 100,000,000 shares for sale to the public (our “Primary Offering”) and 10,000,000 shares for sale pursuant to our distribution reinvestment plan (collectively, our “Offering”). Our Offering terminated on September 22, 2013. On September 18, 2013, our board of directors amended and restated our distribution reinvestment plan, effective September 28, 2013, to make certain minor revisions related to the closing of our Offering. Following the termination of our Offering, on September 23, 2013, we filed with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-3, which incorporated the amended and restated distribution reinvestment plan and registered up to an additional $51.25 million in shares under our amended and restated distribution reinvestment plan (our “DRP Offering”). The DRP Offering may be terminated at any time upon 10 days’ prior written notice to stockholders. As of December 31, 2013, we had issued approximately 0.4 million shares of common stock for approximately $4.4 million in our DRP Offering. As of December 31, 2013, we had issued approximately 54.1 million shares of common stock for approximately $549 million in our Initial Offering, Offering and our DRP Offering and also issued 6.2 million shares of common stock in a private offering in connection with the 2009 private REIT mergers discussed herein.

In connection with the close-down of our Offering and in light of current market conditions, our board of directors has been and is continuing to explore certain strategic alternatives to create stockholder liquidity. Over several months, we interviewed several investment banking firms to assist us in this process. After this extensive interview process, on May 30, 2013, we engaged Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to help us analyze these strategic alternatives. Our management and our board of directors are also exploring the possibility of becoming self-administered. However, there can be no assurance that the exploration of strategic alternatives will result in any particular outcome. In anticipation of a future possible liquidity event, on November 1, 2013, our board of directors approved the termination of our share redemption program, effective December 1, 2013. See Note 8.

On April 2, 2012, our board of directors determined our estimated per share value of our common stock to be $10.79. Such amount was calculated based on the estimated value of our assets less the estimated value of our liabilities, or net asset value, divided by the number of shares outstanding on an adjusted fully diluted basis, calculated as of December 31, 2011. In light of the above-described net asset value calculation, our board of directors determined that it was appropriate to increase the per share offering price for new purchases of our shares commencing on June 1, 2012. This determination by our board of directors was subjective and was primarily based on (i) the estimated net asset value per share, which was predominantly based on an independent third party appraiser’s valuation of our properties as of December 31, 2011, (ii) the commissions and dealer manager fees payable in connection with the offering of our shares, (iii) our historical and anticipated results of operations and financial condition, (iv) our current and anticipated distribution payments, (v) our current and anticipated capital and debt structure, and (vi) our Advisor’s recommendations and assessment of our prospects and continued execution of our investment and operating strategies.

Our dealer manager is Select Capital Corporation, a California corporation (our “Dealer Manager”). Our Dealer Manager was responsible for marketing our shares that were offered pursuant to the Offering. Our chief executive officer, through a wholly-owned limited liability company, owns a 15% non-voting equity interest in our Dealer Manager.

As we accept subscriptions for shares of our common stock, we transfer substantially all of the net offering proceeds to our Operating Partnership as capital contributions in exchange for additional units of interest in our Operating Partnership. However, we are deemed to have made capital contributions in the amount of the gross offering proceeds received from investors, and our Operating Partnership is deemed to have simultaneously paid the sales commissions and other costs associated with the Offering. In addition, our Operating Partnership is structured to make distributions with respect to limited partnership units (except for Class D units) that will be equivalent to the distributions made to holders of our common stock. In March 2011, we adopted Amendment No. 1 to our Operating Partnership’s First Amended and Restated Limited Partnership Agreement, which established Class D Units, and our Operating Partnership issued approximately 120,000 Class D Units in connection with our acquisition of the Las Vegas VII and Las Vegas VIII properties. The Class D Units have all of the rights, powers, duties and preferences of our Operating Partnership’s other limited partnership units, except that they are subject to an annual distribution limit (initially zero percent) and the holders of the Class D Units have agreed to modified exchange rights that prevent them from exercising their exchange rights until the occurrence of a specified event (see Note 8). Finally, a limited partner in our Operating Partnership may later exchange his or her limited partnership units in our Operating Partnership for shares of our common stock at any time after one year following the date of issuance of their limited partnership units, subject to certain restrictions as outlined in the limited partnership agreement. Our Advisor is prohibited from exchanging or otherwise transferring its limited partnership units so long as it is acting as our Advisor pursuant to our Advisory Agreement.

As of December 31, 2013, we wholly-owned 122 self storage facilities located in 17 states (Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia) and Canada comprising approximately 77,375 units and approximately 10.2 million rentable square feet. As of December 31, 2013, we also had noncontrolling interests in three additional self storage facilities. Of those interests, one has been deemed to be a controlling interest and is therefore consolidated in our consolidated financial statements as discussed in Note 2. Additionally, we have an interest in a net leased industrial property in California with 356,000 rentable square feet leased to a single tenant.