Organization (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	1 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2012 Sovran HHF Storage Holdings LLC [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 Sovran HHF Storage Holdings II LLC [Member]	Mar. 31, 2012 West Deptford JV LLC [Member]	Jun. 30, 2011 West Deptford JV LLC [Member]	May 31, 2011 Locke Sovran II, LLC [Member]
Organization [Line Items]
Number of self-storage properties owned and managed	446
Concentration risk, percentage	43.00%
Number of states in which self-storage properties owned and managed	25
Number of properties managed with no ownership	11
Number of properties owned and managed under twenty-percent stake joint venture				25
Number of properties twenty-percent owned under consolidated joint venture						1
Percentage ownership in unconsolidated joint venture				20.00%	15.00%
Number of properties owned and managed under fifteen-percent stake joint venture					30
Percentage ownership in consolidated joint venture						20.00%	20.00%	100.00%
Additional investment in Locke Sovran II, LLC								$ 17,000,000
Reduction of additional paid-in capital								3,900,000
Payments to acquire businesses and interest in affiliates							4,200,000
Preferred interest in investment							8.00%
Percentage of ownership interest of the Subsidiary and its limited partnership which controls the operations of the Operating Partnership	98.80%
Units of redeemable noncontrolling interest in operating partnership	339,025		339,025
Noncontrolling interest repayment								2,800,000
Payments to noncontrolling interests								14,200,000
Mortgage note acquired							2,800,000
Interest rate for mortgage notes acquired							8.00%
Payments to acquire preferred interest in affiliates							1,400,000
Total assets	1,350,001,000		1,344,735,000			4,100,000
Total liabilities	679,427,000		674,730,000			2,900,000
Total operating revenues	57,082,000	49,535,000				100,000
Net loss	11,138,000	8,260,000				(49,000)
Depreciation and amortization						$ 50,000