Item 2. Properties

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As of December 31, 2015, we owned or had ownership interests in 999 operating stores. Of these stores, 746 are wholly-owned and 253 are held in joint ventures. In addition, we managed an additional 348 stores for third parties bringing the total number of stores which we own and/or manage to 1,347. These stores are located in 36 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. We receive a management fee generally equal to approximately 6.0% of cash collected from total revenues to manage the joint venture and third party sites. As of December 31, 2015, we owned and/or managed approximately 101 million square feet of rentable space configured in approximately 896,000 separate storage units. Approximately 70% of our stores are clustered around large population centers, such as Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Petersburg/Tampa and San Francisco/Oakland. These markets contain above-average population and income demographics for stores. The clustering of assets around these population centers enables us to reduce our operating costs through economies of scale. Our acquisitions have given us an increased scale in many core markets as well as a foothold in many markets where we had no previous presence.

We consider a store to be in the lease-up stage after it has been issued a certificate of occupancy, but before it has achieved stabilization. We consider a store to be stabilized once it has achieved either an 80% occupancy rate for a full year measured as of January 1, or has been open for three years.

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As of December 31, 2015, approximately 800,000 tenants were leasing storage units at the 1,347 operating stores that we own and/or manage, primarily on a month-to-month basis, providing the flexibility to increase rental rates over time as market conditions permit. Existing tenants generally receive rate increases at least annually, for which no direct correlation has been drawn to our vacancy trends. Although leases are short-term in duration, the typical tenant tends to remain at our stores for an extended period of time. For stores that were stabilized as of December 31, 2015, the average length of stay was approximately 13.7 months.

The average annual rent per square foot for our existing customers at stabilized stores, net of discounts and bad debt, was $14.83 for the year ended December 31, 2015, compared to $14.02 for the year ended December 31, 2014. Average annual rent per square foot for new leases was $15.41 for the year ended December 31, 2015, compared to $14.35 for the year ended December 31, 2014. The average discounts, as a percentage of rental revenues, during these periods were 3.3% and 3.8%, respectively.

Our store portfolio is made up of different types of construction and building configurations depending on the site and the municipality where it is located. Most often sites are what we consider “hybrid” facilities, a mix of both drive-up buildings and multi-floor buildings. We have a number of multi-floor buildings with elevator access only, and a number of facilities featuring ground-floor access only.

The following table presents additional information regarding the occupancy of our stabilized stores by state as of December 31, 2015 and 2014. The information as of December 31, 2014, is on a pro forma basis as though all the stores owned at December 31, 2015, were under our control as of December 31, 2014.

Stabilized Store Data Based on Location

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The following table presents additional information regarding the occupancy of our lease-up stores by state as of December 31, 2015 and 2014. The information as of December 31, 2014, is on a pro forma basis as though all the stores owned at December 31, 2015, were under our control as of December 31, 2014.

Lease-up Store Data Based on Location

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