NYSE: SMA

Further, through our Managed Platform (as defined below), we serve as the sponsor of Strategic Storage Trust VI, Inc., a publicly-registered non-traded REIT (“SST VI”), Strategic Storage Growth Trust III, Inc., a private REIT (“SSGT III”), and Strategic Storage Trust X, a private net asset value REIT launched in January 2025, (“SST X” and together with SST VI and SSGT III, the “Managed REITs”). We manage the properties owned by the Managed REITs. Inclusive of the properties owned by the Managed REITs and the properties owned by Delaware statutory trusts (“DSTs”) sponsored by one of the Managed REITs, in total, as of December 31, 2025, we managed 52 of such operating self storage properties, consisting of approximately 41,000 units and 4.5 million rentable square feet.

Effective October 1, 2025, we acquired Argus Professional Storage Management, LLC (“Argus”), a third-party manager of self storage properties (the “Third Party Platform Acquisition”). See Note 4 – Third Party Platform Acquisition of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information. As such, as of December 31, 2025, we managed an additional 221 of such properties, consisting of more than approximately 98,000 units and 15.9 million rentable square feet (the “Third Party Platform”). The Third Party Platform, the Managed REITs, and the other properties operated by us as mentioned above, are referred to as the “Managed Platform.”

In total, as of December 31, 2025, we managed 273 operating self storage properties, which we did not own, consisting of approximately 140,000 units and 20.4 million rentable square feet through our Managed Platform.

Our primary business model is focused on owning and operating high quality self storage properties in high growth markets in the United States and Canada. We finance our portfolio through a diverse capital strategy which includes cash generated from operations, borrowings under our syndicated revolving line of credit, secured and unsecured debt financing, equity offerings and joint ventures. Our business model is designed to maximize cash flow available for distribution to our stockholders and to achieve sustainable long-term growth in cash flow in order to maximize long-term stockholder value at acceptable levels of risk. We execute our organic growth strategy by pursuing revenue-optimizing and expense-minimizing opportunities in the operations of our existing portfolio. We execute our external growth strategy by developing, redeveloping, acquiring and managing self storage facilities in the United States and Canada both internally and through our Managed Platform, and we look to acquire properties that are physically stabilized, recently developed, in various stages of lease up or at certificate of occupancy. We seek to acquire undermanaged facilities that are not operated by institutional operators, where we can implement our proprietary management and technology to maximize net operating income.

We acquired Argus pursuant to a contribution agreement (the “Contribution Agreement”). The principal assets acquired were property management contracts, covering the management of more than 221 properties and 400 employees (as of October 1, 2025) and an operating lease for their corporate headquarters in Tucson, Arizona and other intellectual and personal property.

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Additionally, we plan to continue to expand our third-party management platform in both Canada and the United States, by scaling our Third Party Platform or through additional investments in or acquisitions of third-party management firms.

We have provided financing to the Managed REITs in the form of mezzanine loans, bridge loans, promissory notes, and preferred equity as applicable. We intend to continue in this practice going forward, if necessary. We may look to further expand our lending practice to self storage facilities outside of the Managed REITs, potentially to third party managed properties or joint venture properties. We may enter into joint ventures or other forms of co-investments in order to scale our overall property count and diversify our portfolio of properties. Joint ventures may also allow us to acquire an interest in a property without requiring that we fund the entire purchase price, but for which we would target being the property manager, both in the U.S. and Canada.

As an operating business, self storage requires a much greater focus on strategic planning and tactical operation plans. Our in-house call center allows us to centralize our sales efforts as we capture new business over the phone, email, web-based chat, and text mediums. As we have grown our portfolio of self storage facilities, we have been able to consolidate and streamline a number of aspects of our operations through economies of scale. We also utilize our digital marketing breadth and expertise which allows us to acquire customers efficiently by leveraging our portfolio size and technological proficiency. To the extent we acquired facilities in clusters within geographic regions, we see property management efficiencies resulting in reduction of personnel and other administrative costs.

In addition, we have the internal capability to originate, structure and manage additional self storage investment programs or Managed REITs, which would be sponsored by SmartStop REIT Advisors, LLC (“SRA”), our indirect subsidiary. We acquired such capability in 2019 from Strategic Asset Management I, LLC (f/k/a SmartStop Asset Management, LLC), our former sponsor (“SAM”). We generate asset management fees, property management fees, acquisition fees and other fees and also receive substantially all of the tenant protection program revenue earned by our Managed REITs, as applicable. For the property management and advisory services that we provide, we are reimbursed for certain expenses that otherwise helps to offset our net operating expense burden. We primarily generate property management fees and receive a portion of the tenant protection program revenue from our third party owners and are reimbursed for certain costs incurred by our Third Party Platform, as applicable.

Investment Objectives

We focus on investing in self storage facilities and related self storage real estate investments that are expected to support sustainable stockholder distributions over the long term. Our primary investment objectives are to: (1) invest in real property in a manner that allows us to qualify as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes; (2) provide regular cash distributions to our stockholders; (3) preserve and protect our stockholders’ invested capital; (4) achieve appreciation in the value of our properties over the long term; and (5) grow net cash flow from operations in order to provide sustainable cash distributions to our stockholders over the long-term.

Our management team has experience acquiring self storage facilities across a broad spectrum of opportunities including physically stabilized facilities, recently developed facilities in physical or economic lease up, facilities that have just received a certificate of occupancy (“C/O”), facilities in need of renovation and/or re-development and ground up development. We have adopted an investment allocation policy, pursuant to which we will have first priority for investment opportunities, and if we decline any such opportunity, we will allocate it to another program sponsored by us after considering various factors. In considering and evaluating potential acquisition opportunities, and to augment our seasoned acquisition team, we employ our proprietary underwriting methodology. We believe that we maintain a competitive advantage in acquiring facilities given the scale of our business and the experience and industry relationships of our team. We maintain a network of self storage operators, real estate brokers and other market participants in the U.S. and Canada, which gives us unique insight into new and highly desirable acquisition opportunities.

Joint Ventures

We may enter into joint ventures, general partnerships, co-tenancies and other participations with real estate developers, owners and others for the purpose of owning and leasing real properties. Among other reasons, we may want to acquire properties through a joint venture with third parties or affiliates in order to diversify our portfolio of properties in terms of geographic region or property type or to co-invest with one of our property management partners. Joint ventures may also allow us to acquire an interest in a property without requiring that we fund the entire purchase price. In addition, certain properties may be available to us only through joint ventures. For example, we acquired a joint venture arrangement with SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust, an unaffiliated third party (“SmartCentres”), pursuant to which we and SmartCentres work together to identify primarily self storage development opportunities in certain regions in Canada.

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Generally, SmartCentres has been responsible for the development of the properties and we have been responsible for the management of the facilities upon completion.

On July 18, 2024, we entered into a joint venture arrangement with an unaffiliated third party to develop a self storage property in Nantucket, Massachusetts (the “Nantucket Joint Venture”). This property became operational in late December 2025, and we serve as property manager of the self storage property.

For more information, please see Note 6 – Investments in Unconsolidated Real Estate Ventures of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Recently Completed Transactions

On April 1, 2025 we executed our underwriting agreement, and on April 3, 2025, we closed our registered underwritten public offering (the “Underwritten Public Offering”) of 27,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share (the “Common Stock”), at an initial price of $30.00 per share, pursuant to a registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on Form S-11 (File No. 333-264449) (the “Registration Statement”) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The underwriters also exercised an overallotment option to purchase 4,050,000 additional shares of Common Stock on April 3, 2025. Certain of our directors, officers, and employees, and friends and family members of certain of our directors, officers, and employees were able to and did purchase shares through us or our underwriters at the public offering price of $30.00 per share. Under this program, officers and directors purchased 31,500 shares. All of these shares purchased in the Underwritten Public Offering are listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “SMA.” The gross and net proceeds received on April 3, 2025 were approximately $931.5 million and $875.6 million, respectively.

On June 16, 2025, we, as guarantor, and the Operating Partnership, as issuer, sold on a private placement basis in Canada, an aggregate principal amount of $500 million CAD senior unsecured notes which incur interest only at a fixed rate of 3.91% and become due on June 16, 2028 (the “2028 Canadian Notes”).

On September 24, 2025, we, as guarantor, and the Operating Partnership, as issuer, sold on a private placement basis in Canada, an aggregate principal amount of $200 million CAD senior unsecured notes which incur interest only at a fixed rate of 3.89% and become due on September 24, 2030 (the “2030 Canadian Notes”).

Effective October 1, 2025, pursuant to a contribution agreement (the “Contribution Agreement”) we acquired Argus Professional Storage Management, LLC (“Argus”), a third-party property management company that (as of October 1, 2025) managed more than 221 operating properties across 27 states consisting of more than approximately 100,000 units and approximately 16.6 million rentable square feet.

Other Equity Information

We commenced our initial public offering in January 2014, which was marketed and sold primarily through retail investor channels, including the independent broker dealer channel. At the termination of our initial offering in January 2017, we had sold shares of our class A common stock, $0.001 par value per share (“Class A Common Stock”), and class T common stock, $0.001 par value per share (“Class T Common Stock”), for approximately $493 million and $73 million respectively.

On March 20, 2025, we effected a one-for-four reverse stock split (the “Reverse Stock Split”) of each issued and outstanding share of Class A Common Stock and Class T Common Stock. Concurrently with the Reverse Stock Split, we also effected a corresponding one-for-four reverse unit split (together with the Reverse Stock Split, the “Reverse Equity Splits”) of units of our Operating Partnership. As a result of the Reverse Equity Splits, every four shares of our common stock and every four Operating Partnership units that were issued and outstanding as of the date of the Reverse Equity Splits were automatically changed into one issued and outstanding share of common stock or one issued and outstanding Operating Partnership unit, as applicable, rounded to the nearest 1/1000th share or Operating Partnership unit. The reverse stock and unit splits impacted all classes of common stock and common operating partnership units proportionately and resulted in no impact on any stockholder's or limited partner's percentage ownership of all issued and outstanding common stock or common Operating Partnership units. In connection with the reverse equity splits, the number of shares of common stock and Operating Partnership units underlying the outstanding share-based awards were also proportionally reduced.

As applicable and unless otherwise indicated, this Report gives effect to the retrospective effect to the Reverse Equity Splits as described above for all periods presented.

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Immediately after the Reverse Stock Split, we reclassified and designated 225,000,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A Common Stock and 340,000,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class T Common Stock as authorized but unissued shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share (the “Reclassification”), without any designation as to class or series. As a result, the Company had 565,000,000 shares of unclassified common stock, $0.001 par value per share, authorized but unissued.

In April 2025, in connection with the Underwritten Public Offering, an aggregate of approximately 287,080 time-based LTIP Units and 344,894 time based shares of restricted stock were issued to approximately 320 employees and directors (the “IPO Grant”). As prescribed in the IPO Grant in April 2025, approximately 287,080 of these LTIP Units, and approximately 119,829 of these restricted shares were scheduled to vest ratably over four years, respectively, with the first tranche vesting on April 1, 2026. Approximately 225,065 of the total shares issued were scheduled to vest after six months, on October 1, 2025. All of the aforementioned grants vest subject to the recipient’s continued employment through the applicable vesting date. See Note 13 – Equity Based Compensation of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

On June 12, 2025, we filed Articles of Amendment to our charter to decrease our total number of authorized shares of stock from 900,000,000 to 225,000,000. As a result of such decrease, our authorized shares of stock consist of: (i) 175,000,000 shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, of which 31,250,000 shares were designated as Class A Common Stock, 2,500,000 shares were designated as Class T Common Stock, and 141,250,000 were common stock without designation as to class or series; and (ii) 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock, $0.001 par value per share.

On October 1, 2025, the six-month anniversary of the listing of our Common Stock issued in our Underwritten Public Offering for trading on the NYSE, each share of Class A Common Stock and Class T Common Stock automatically converted into one share of our undesignated listed Common Stock. In preparation for this conversion, on July 30, 2025, we completed a fractional share redemption related to our Class A Common Stock and Class T Common Stock of approximately $0.3 million, such that a total of approximately 8,000 shares were redeemed at a purchase price of $35.63 per share, which was the closing price of the Company’s Common Stock as of the end of that day. Each stockholder that held any fractional shares received a cash payment for such shares, and as a result, thereafter no stockholder of the Company owned any fractional shares.

Industry and Competition

Self storage refers to properties that offer month-to-month storage unit rental for personal or business use. Self storage facilities offer a cost-effective and flexible storage alternative in which customers rent fully enclosed and secure spaces. Typical unit sizes range from 5x5 feet to 10x30 feet with facilities typically providing a variety of different sizes and configurations. Customers typically have access to their storage units 18 hours a day, with some facilities offering 24-hour access. Rental rates can vary and are determined by the location and size of the rental space, the level of security, and whether the unit is climate controlled. The short-term nature of self storage leases creates the opportunity for real-time rate increases, which has led well-positioned facilities to achieve meaningful rate growth in a rising cost environment.

In addition to primary self storage operations, facilities also tend to have a number of other ancillary products that provide incremental revenues. This includes, but is not limited to, tenant insurance, protection or insurance plans, moving and packing supplies, locks and boxes, and other services. Sophisticated operators have the opportunity to substantially increase profitability of under-managed facilities post acquisition.

The customer base of self storage operators includes both local residential customers, typically within a 3- to 5-mile radius of the facility, as well as commercial, military and student users.

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Residential customers generally store items ranging from furniture, household items and appliances to cars, boats and recreational vehicles.

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Commercial customers tend to include small business owners who require easy and frequent access to their goods, records, extra inventory or storage for seasonal goods. Commercial customers are also increasingly utilizing self storage for their distribution logistics, as its ease of access, security, flexible lease terms, climate control features and proximity to their distribution destinations all drive operational results.

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While military and student users are a smaller portion of the overall mix, the mix tends to vary by location of the facility, with facilities near military bases and universities achieving higher military and student mixes, respectively.

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The self storage industry is highly fragmented in the U.S. and Canada, with owners and operators ranging from individual property owners to institutional investors and large, publicly traded REITs. According to the 2025 Self Storage Almanac, there are approximately 58,000 self storage facilities in the U.S. representing a total of 2.7 billion rentable square feet. With the majority of the existing supply operated locally by non-institutional groups in the U.S and Canada, there is a significant market opportunity to acquire existing facilities and increase revenue and profitability through professional management, digitalization and physical expansion projects.

Industry Segments

We operate in two reportable business segments: (i) self storage operations and (ii) our Managed Platform business. Our self storage operations consist of our wholly-owned self storage facilities, primarily consisting of month-to month rental revenue and related ancillary revenue that these self storage facilities produce. Our Managed Platform business consists of the various management services we perform for the Managed REITs and pursuant to our Third Party Platform for such third party owned properties we manage, including the services performed related to our property management, asset management, and construction and development management contracts. The two reportable segments offer different products and services to different customers and are therefore managed separately.

Government Regulations

Our business is subject to many laws and governmental regulations. Changes in these laws and regulations, or their interpretation by agencies and courts, occur frequently.

Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities

We are subject to various rules, regulations and standards with respect to accommodations we must make for individuals with disabilities. For example, in the United States, under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or ADA, all public accommodations and commercial facilities are required to meet certain federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. We are also subject to similar requirements in Ontario, Canada, under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, or AODA. Complying with such requirements could require us to remove access barriers. Failing to comply could result in the imposition of fines by various governmental agencies or an award of damages to private litigants. Although we intend to acquire properties that substantially comply with these requirements, we may incur additional costs related to compliance. In addition, a number of additional governmental laws may require us to modify any properties we purchase, or may restrict further renovations thereof, with respect to access by disabled persons. Additional legislation could impose financial obligations or restrictions with respect to access by disabled persons. Although we believe that these costs will not have a material adverse effect on us, if required changes involve a greater amount of expenditures than we currently anticipate, our ability to make distributions to our stockholders could be adversely affected.

Environmental Matters

Under various federal, state and local laws, ordinances and regulations, a current or previous owner or operator of real property may be held liable for the costs of removing or remediating hazardous or toxic substances. These laws often impose clean-up responsibility and liability without regard to whether the owner or operator was responsible for, or even knew of, the presence of the hazardous or toxic substances. The costs of investigating, removing or remediating these substances may be substantial, and the presence of these substances may adversely affect our ability to rent units or sell the property, or to borrow using the property as collateral, and may expose us to liability resulting from any release of or exposure to these substances. If we arrange for the disposal or treatment of hazardous or toxic substances at another location, we may be liable for the costs of removing or remediating these substances at the disposal or treatment facility, whether or not the facility is owned or operated by us. We may be subject to common law claims by third parties based on damages and costs resulting from environmental contamination emanating from a site that we own or operate. Certain environmental laws also impose liability in connection with the handling of or exposure to asbestos containing materials, pursuant to which third parties may seek recovery from owners or operators of real properties for personal injury associated with asbestos-containing materials and other hazardous or toxic substances.

Other Regulations

The properties we acquire will be subject to various federal, state and local regulatory requirements, such as zoning and state and local fire and life safety requirements. Failure to comply with these requirements could result in the imposition of fines by governmental authorities or awards of damages to private litigants. We intend to acquire properties that are in material compliance with all such regulatory requirements. However, we cannot make assurances that these requirements will

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not be changed or that new requirements will not be imposed which would require significant unanticipated expenditures by us and could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Employees and Human Capital

As of December 31, 2025, we had more than 1,000 employees, none of which were represented by a collective bargaining agreement. We continually assess and strive to enhance employee satisfaction and engagement. We believe our relationship with our employees is good and that we provide them with adequate flexibility to meet personal and family needs. We also appreciate the importance of retention, growth and development of our employees and we believe we offer competitive compensation (including salary and bonuses) and benefits packages to our employees. Further, from professional development opportunities to leadership training, we have development programs and on-demand opportunities to cultivate talent throughout our organization.

We strive to foster an inclusive work environment, comprising top talent and high performing employees. We maintain policies that strive to protect our employees from discrimination or harassment on the basis of color, race, sex, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identification or expression or any other status protected by applicable law. To that end, we conduct annual training to raise awareness of (and with the goal of preventing) all forms of harassment and discrimination.

Available Information

We make available on the “Information – SEC Filings” subpage of our website (www.investors.smartstopselfstorage.com) free of charge our annual reports on Form 10-K, including this report, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, ownership reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5 and any amendments to those reports as soon as practicable after we electronically file such reports with the SEC. Our electronically filed reports can also be obtained on the SEC’s internet site at http://www.sec.gov. Further, copies of our Code of Ethics and the charters for the Audit, Compensation, and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees of our Board are also available on the “Information – Governance” subpage of our website. No information contained on our website is intended to be included as part of, or incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K