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The information in this preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is not complete and may be changed. This preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are not an offer to sell these securities nor are they soliciting offers to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5)
Registration No. 333-156463

Subject to Completion
Preliminary Prospectus Supplement dated August 12, 2009

PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
(To prospectus dated January 13, 2009)

22,000,000 Shares

Common Shares

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              We are offering 22,000,000 common shares of beneficial interest, par value $0.01 per share.

              Our common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "YSI." On August 11, 2009, the last reported sale price of our common shares as reported on the New York Stock Exchange was $5.81 per share.

              To assist us in continuing to qualify as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes, our Declaration of Trust imposes certain restrictions on the ownership of our shares of beneficial interest. See "Description of Our Capital Shares" in the accompanying prospectus.

              Investing in our common shares involves substantial risks. See "Risk Factors" beginning on page S-5 of this prospectus supplement and on page 9 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus.

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              The underwriters may also purchase up to 3,300,000 additional common shares from us at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount, within 30 days from the date of this prospectus supplement to cover overallotments, if any.

              Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

              The common shares will be ready for delivery on or about August     , 2009.

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Joint Book-Running Managers

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The date of this prospectus supplement is August     , 2009.

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Prospectus Supplement

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              You should rely only upon the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and any related free writing prospectus required to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or "SEC." We have not, and the underwriters have not, authorized any other person to provide you with different or additional information. If anyone provides you with different or additional information, you should not rely upon it. We are not, and the underwriters are not, making an offer to sell these securities in any jurisdiction where such offer or sale is not permitted. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, any such free writing prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein or therein are accurate only as of the respective dates of these documents. Our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, funds from operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

              This document is in two parts. The first part is comprised of this prospectus supplement which describes the specific terms of this offering and certain other matters relating to us. The second part, the accompanying prospectus, contains a description of our common shares and provides more general information about securities we may offer from time to time, some of which does not apply to this offering. To the extent the information contained in this prospectus supplement differs or varies from the information contained in the accompanying prospectus or documents previously filed with the SEC, the information in this prospectus supplement will supersede such information.

              This prospectus supplement is part of a registration statement that we have filed with the SEC relating to the securities offered hereby. This prospectus supplement does not contain all of the information that we have included in the registration statement and the accompanying exhibits and schedules in accordance with the rules and regulations of the SEC, and we refer you to the omitted information. It is important for you to read and consider all information contained in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus before making your investment decision. You should also read and consider the additional information incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. See "Where You Can Find More Information" in this prospectus supplement.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

              Our disclosure and analysis in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents that are incorporated by reference herein and therein contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the "Securities Act," and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the "Exchange Act." Forward-looking statements provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not statements of historical fact. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future events, including, among other things, discussion and analysis of our future financial condition, results of operations and funds from operations, our strategic plans and objectives, cost management, occupancy and leasing rates and trends, liquidity and ability to refinance our indebtedness as it matures, anticipated capital expenditures (and access to capital) required to complete projects, amounts of anticipated cash distributions to our shareholders in the future and other matters. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, are difficult to predict and/or could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements.

              Forward-looking statements involve inherent uncertainty and may ultimately prove to be incorrect or false. You are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise may be required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or actual operating results. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to:

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availability and terms of capital and financing, both to fund our operations and to refinance our indebtedness as it matures;



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risks and uncertainties related to the current recession, the national and local economies, and the real estate industry in general, in our specific markets or the self-storage industry in particular;

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volatility in the capital markets;



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rising interest and insurance rates;



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counterparty non-performance related to the use of derivative financial instruments;



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competition from other private and public self-storage owners;



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legislative or regulatory changes, including changes to laws governing REITs;



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our possible failure to qualify as a REIT and the risk of changes in laws affecting REITs;



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our dependence upon key personnel whose continued service is not guaranteed;



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our ability to identify, hire and retain highly qualified executives in the future;



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availability of appropriate acquisition and development targets;



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failure to integrate acquisitions successfully;



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the financial condition and liquidity of, or disputes with, our joint venture partners;



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impact of ad valorem, property and income taxes;



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changes in generally accepted accounting principles;



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construction delays, increasing construction costs or construction costs that exceed estimates;



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potential liability for uninsured losses and environmental liabilities;



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disruptions or shutdowns of our automated processes and systems;



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lease-up risks, including our inability to obtain new tenants on favorable terms, or at all, upon the expiration of existing leases; and



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the potential need to fund improvements or other capital expenditures out of operating cash flow.

              This list of risks and uncertainties, however, is only a summary of some of the most important factors and is not intended to be exhaustive. You should carefully review the risks described under "Risk Factors" beginning on page S-5 in this prospectus supplement and on page 9 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008. New factors may also emerge from time to time that could materially and adversely affect us.

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SUMMARY

              This summary is not complete and may not contain all of the information that may be important to you in deciding whether to invest in our common shares. To fully understand this offering prior to making an investment decision, you should carefully read this entire prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein and therein, including the sections entitled "Risk Factors" beginning on page S-5 of this prospectus supplement and on page 9 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Unless otherwise expressly stated or the context otherwise requires, all information in this prospectus supplement assumes that the overallotment option granted to the underwriters is not exercised.

              All references to "we," "our," "us," "YSI" and the "Company" in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus mean U-Store-It Trust and its consolidated subsidiaries, except where it is made clear that the term means only U-Store-It Trust.

The Company

              We are a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of self-storage facilities in the United States. We provide self-storage solutions across the country through our 383 company-owned facilities and the U-Store-It Network, which consists of approximately 310 additional third-party self-storage facilities.

              We own and conduct all of our business through our operating partnership, U-Store-It, L.P., or the Operating Partnership, and its subsidiaries. We manage our assets through YSI Management, LLC, or the Management Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Operating Partnership.

              Since its formation in 1996, our Operating Partnership has been engaged in virtually all aspects of the self-storage business, including the development, acquisition, ownership and operation of self-storage facilities. We are the sole general partner of our Operating Partnership. As a result, our board of trustees effectively directs all of the Operating Partnership's affairs. As of June 30, 2009, we own 92.2% of the outstanding partnership units of the Operating Partnership. Our ownership interest in the Operating Partnership will increase upon consummation of this offering. See "Use of Proceeds" below.

              Our self-storage facilities are designed to offer affordable, easily-accessible and secure storage space for residential and commercial customers. Our customers rent storage units for their exclusive use, typically on a month-to-month basis. Our facilities are specifically designed to accommodate both residential and commercial customers, with features such as security systems and wide aisles and load-bearing capabilities for large truck access. Our customers can access their storage units during business hours, and most of our facilities provide customers with 24-hour access through computer-controlled access systems. Our goal is to provide our customers with the highest standard of facilities and service in the self-storage industry.

              Our principal executive office is located at 460 E. Swedesford Road, Suite 3000, Wayne, Pennsylvania 19087. Our telephone number is (610) 293-5700. Our website address is www.ustoreit.com. However, the information located on, or accessible from, our website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus or incorporated into any other filings that we make with the SEC.

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Recent Developments

New Credit Facility

              On August 6, 2009, we received a commitment letter and term sheet from our joint lead arrangers, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, one of the joint book-running underwriters in this offering, and Banc of America Securities LLC, an affiliate of the other joint book-running underwriter in this offering, with respect to a new credit facility. We launched the syndication process for a new credit facility in early July 2009 and by August 7, 2009 had received $420 million of lender commitments for a new, senior secured credit facility. The syndication efforts are expected to continue through mid-August 2009 at which time we intend to determine the appropriate size and composition of the new facility. The term sheet contemplates, and we expect, the facility to be comprised of a $200 million secured term loan and a $250 million secured revolving credit facility. The new credit facility is expected to have a three-year term and to be secured by the real and personal property interests in our borrowing base properties.

              The term sheet provides for customary covenants including a maximum leverage ratio of 65% (67.5% during the initial year of the agreement), a minimum fixed charge coverage ratio of 1.45x, a minimum tangible net worth covenant, and limitations on certain permitted investments, dividends and distributions, and the amount of floating-rate interest exposure. Pricing on the new facility is expected to range, depending on our leverage levels, from 3.25% to 4.00% over LIBOR, with a LIBOR floor of 1.5%.

              We intend to use the proceeds from the new credit facility to repay outstanding balances under and to replace our existing $450 million credit facility, including an existing $200 million unsecured term loan, which is scheduled to mature on November 20, 2009, and to repay a $46 million secured term loan. At June 30, 2009, we had approximately $304 million outstanding under our existing unsecured credit facility comprised of $200 million of term loan borrowings and $104 million of unsecured revolving loans. On August 11, 2009, we borrowed an additional $85 million of unsecured revolving loans in order to repay the outstanding mortgage indebtedness of YSI III, LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary.

              We expect to close and fund the new credit facility on or before November 20, 2009. The new credit facility is subject to lender due diligence, definitive documentation and closing requirements; accordingly, no assurance can be given that this facility will be procured on the terms, including the amount available to be borrowed, described above or at all. If we and our lenders are unable to reach agreement on definitive documentation for the new credit facility with the lenders or the new credit facility otherwise does not close or is not funded on or before November 20, 2009, then we intend to utilize our extension options with respect to our existing credit facility and existing secured term loan to extend the maturity dates of those loans to November 20, 2010.

Joint Venture

              We, through a wholly-owned affiliate, have signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture with an affiliate of Heitman, LLC. We will contribute 22 of our wholly-owned properties, which are located in eight states and have an agreed upon value of approximately $102 million. As a result, we will receive approximately $51 million in cash and a 50% interest in the unleveraged joint venture. We will continue day-to-day operations of the properties and receive a market-rate management fee. The joint venture transaction is subject to customary due diligence and closing requirements, and is anticipated to close by the end of August 2009. We expect to receive the approximate $51 million cash distribution from the joint venture at the time of closing which will be available to repay existing debt obligations.

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              We and Heitman, LLC continue to evaluate the potential to expand the joint venture on similar terms beyond the aforementioned agreement and have identified a pool of up to 20 additional properties which may be contributed by us to an expanded joint venture at a future date.

New Secured Term Loans and Property Dispositions

              Through August 7, 2009, we have received a total of $53.7 million through six secured loans and $15.3 million via four property dispositions. The loans have a weighted-average interest rate of 7.1% and maturities ranging from five to ten years. The four properties sold are located in Florida, New Mexico and California.

              We intend to procure additional funding for our business through dispositions of additional properties and secured loans. Currently, we are pursuing the following funding initiatives:

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$71.8 million of prospective property sales under contract.



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We have entered into contracts totaling $46.4 million for the sale of six properties located in Colorado, Florida and New Jersey. Due diligence for the pending transactions is complete and conditions to closing have been met. The transactions are expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2009.



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We have entered into contracts totaling $25.4 million for the sale of nine properties located in Colorado and Connecticut. Buyer's due diligence for the pending transactions is in process. Assuming satisfactory completion of the buyer's due diligence, closings are expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2009.



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$43.4 million in new secured loans. We have $43.4 million of secured loans currently in lender due diligence. These eight loans are secured by 20 properties and are expected to close in the third quarter of 2009, assuming satisfactory completion of the lender's due diligence. These fixed-rate loans have maturities ranging from five to ten years and a weighted-average interest rate of approximately 7.0%.

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The Offering

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(1)

The number of common shares outstanding after this offering is based on 60,654,542 shares outstanding as of August 12, 2009. Excludes 926,694 and 185,375 common shares available for future issuance under the U-Store-It Trust 2007 Equity Incentive Plan and the U-Store-It Trust 2004 Equity Incentive Plan, respectively, and includes 471,895 unvested restricted shares granted under such plans.

(2)

Includes 5,079,928 common shares issuable upon the conversion or exchange of limited partnership units in the Operating Partnership.

              For additional information regarding our common shares, see "Description of Our Capital Shares" in the accompanying prospectus.

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RISK FACTORS

              Your investment in our common shares involves substantial risks. In consultation with your own financial and legal advisers, you should carefully consider, among other matters, the factors set forth below as well as on page 9 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, which is incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and other information that we file with the SEC before deciding whether an investment in our common shares is suitable for you. If any of the risks contained in or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus develop into actual events, our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations, funds from operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected, the market price of our common shares could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment.

We may not close on the capital transactions described in "Summary—Recent Developments."

              The new credit facility, secured term loans, joint venture and property dispositions described in "Summary—Recent Developments" are subject to a number of closing conditions and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, including the discretion of third parties. As a result, there can be no assurance that we will complete any of these transactions. To the extent we are unable to complete one or more of these transactions, our ability to meet our debt obligations on a timely basis could be adversely affected. If we are unable to timely meet our debt obligations, we risk loss of properties to foreclosures, reduced operating flexibility and reduced distributions to our shareholders.

This offering is expected to be dilutive, and there may be future dilution of our common shares.

              Giving effect to the issuance of common shares in this offering, the receipt of the expected net proceeds and the use of those proceeds, we expect that this offering will have a dilutive effect on our expected earnings per share and funds from operations per share for the year ending December 31, 2009. The actual amount of dilution cannot be determined at this time and will be based on numerous factors. Additionally, subject to the 60-day lock up restrictions described in "Underwriting—No Sales of Similar Securities," we are not restricted from issuing additional securities, including common shares, securities that are convertible into or exchangeable for, or that represent the right to receive, common shares or any substantially similar securities. The market price of our common shares could decline as a result of issuances or sales of a large number of our common shares in the market after this offering or the perception that such issuances or sales could occur. We may issue shares of beneficial interest or other equity securities senior to our common shares in the future for a number of reasons, including to finance our operations and business plan, to adjust our ratio of debt to equity, to satisfy obligations upon the exchange of partnership units in the Operating Partnership or for other reasons. Additionally, future issuances or sales of substantial amounts of our common shares may be at prices below the offering price of the common shares offered by this prospectus supplement and may adversely impact the market price of our common shares.

Developments in California may have an adverse impact on our business and financial results.

              We own and operate 59 self-storage facilities, approximately 16% of our total facilities, in California. The state of California and many local jurisdictions are facing severe budgetary problems. Action that may be taken in response to these problems, such as increases in property taxes on commercial properties, changes to sales taxes or other governmental efforts to raise revenues could adversely impact our business and results of operations. In addition, we could be adversely impacted by efforts to reenact legislation mandating medical insurance for employees of California businesses and members of their families.

Regional concentration of our business may subject us to economic downturns in the states of California, Florida, Texas and Illinois.

              As of June 30, 2009, 181 of our 384 self-storage facilities were located in the states of California, Florida, Texas and Illinois. For the six-month period ended June 30, 2009, these facilities

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accounted for approximately 49% of our total revenues. This concentration of business in California, Florida, Texas and Illinois exposes us to potential losses resulting from a downturn in the economies of those states. If economic conditions in those states continue to deteriorate, we will experience a reduction in existing and new business, which may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The recent and ongoing credit and liquidity crisis may limit our access to capital and have an adverse effect on our ability to meet our debt payments, pay dividends to our shareholders or make future investments necessary to implement our business plan.

              In order to meet our debt payments, make distributions to our shareholders or make future investments necessary to implement our business plan, we may need to raise additional capital. Recently, the global capital and credit markets have experienced extraordinary turmoil and upheaval, characterized by the bankruptcy, failure or sale of various financial institutions and an unprecedented level of intervention from the U.S. federal government. This disruption in the credit markets, the repricing of credit risk and the deterioration of the financial and real estate markets have made it increasingly difficult for REITs and other companies to access capital. Adverse market conditions include greater share price volatility, significantly less liquidity, widening of credit spreads and a lack of price transparency. It is difficult to predict how long these conditions will persist and the extent to which our results of operations, funds from operations, financial condition and liquidity may be adversely affected. This market turmoil and tightening of credit have also led to an increased lack of consumer confidence and widespread reduction of business activity generally which may adversely impact us, including our ability to acquire and dispose of assets and continue our development pipeline. If current levels of market disruption and volatility continue or worsen, we may not be able to obtain new debt financing or refinance our maturing debt on favorable terms or at all. In addition, our future access to the equity markets could be limited. Any such financing or refinancing issues could materially and adversely affect us.

              While we currently have no reason to believe that we will be unable to access our credit facilities in the future, concern about the stability of the markets generally and the strength of borrowers specifically has led many lenders and institutional investors to reduce and, in some cases, eliminate funding to borrowers. In addition, the financial institutions that are parties to our current and proposed new secured revolving credit facility and other debt documents might have incurred losses or might have reduced capital reserves on account of their prior lending to borrowers, their holdings of certain mortgage securities or their other financial relationships, in part because of the general weakening of the U.S. economy and the increased financial instability of many borrowers. As a result, these financial institutions might be or become capital constrained and might tighten their lending standards or become insolvent. If they experience shortages of capital and liquidity, or if they experience excessive volumes of borrowing requests from other borrowers within a short period of time, these lenders might not be able or willing to honor their funding commitments to us, which would adversely affect our ability to draw on our credit facilities and, over time, could negatively impact our ability to consummate acquisitions, repay indebtedness as it matures, fund capital expenditures or pay dividends to our shareholders. Continued adverse conditions in the credit markets in future years could also adversely affect the availability and terms of future borrowings, renewals or refinancings.

              As with other public companies, the availability of debt and equity capital depends, in part, upon the market price of our common shares and investor demand, which, in turn, depends upon various market conditions that change from time to time. Among the market conditions and other factors that may affect the market price of our common shares is the market's perception of our current and future financial condition, liquidity, growth potential, earnings, funds from operations and cash distributions. Our failure to meet the market's expectation with regard to any of these or other items would likely adversely affect the market price of our common shares, possibly materially. If we cannot access capital or we cannot access capital upon acceptable terms, we may be required to liquidate one or more investments in properties at times that may not permit us to realize the

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maximum return on those investments, which could also result in adverse tax consequences to us. We cannot assure you that we will be able to raise the necessary capital to meet our debt service obligations, pay dividends to our shareholders or make future investments necessary to implement our business plan, and the failure to do so could have a material adverse effect on us.

Future sales or issuances of our common shares may cause the market price of our common shares to decline.

              The sale of substantial amounts of our common shares, whether directly by us or in the secondary market, the perception that such sales could occur or the availability for future sale of our common shares or securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for our common shares could materially and adversely affect the market price of our common shares and our ability to raise capital through future offerings of equity or equity-related securities. In addition, we may issue shares of beneficial interest or other equity securities senior to our common shares in the future for a number of reasons, including to finance our operations and business plan, to adjust our ratio of debt to equity, to satisfy obligations upon the exchange of partnership units in the Operating Partnership or for other reasons.

The market price of our common shares may fluctuate significantly.

              The trading prices of our common shares have been and may continue to be subject to wide fluctuation due to many events and factors such as those discussed elsewhere in this "Risk Factors" section and those described or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, including:

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actual or anticipated variations in our operating results, funds from operations, cash flows or liquidity;



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change in our earnings estimates or those of analysts and any failure to meet such estimates;



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the amount of our leverage;



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changes in our dividend policy;



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publication of research reports about us, the self-storage industry or the real estate industry generally;



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increases in market interest rates that lead purchasers of our common shares to demand a higher dividend yield;



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changes in market valuations of similar companies;



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adverse market reaction to the amount of our outstanding debt at any time, the amount of our maturing debt in the near and medium term and our ability to refinance such debt and the terms thereof or our plans to incur additional debt in the future;



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additions or departures of key management personnel;



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actions by institutional shareholders;



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speculation in the press or investment community;



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the realization of any of the other risk factors included in, or incorporated by reference to, this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus; and



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general market and economic conditions.

              Many of the factors listed above are beyond our control. Those factors may cause the market price of our common shares to decline, regardless of our financial performance, condition and prospects. It is impossible to provide any assurance that the market price of our common shares will not fall in the future, and it may be difficult for our shareholders to resell our common shares at prices they find attractive, or at all.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

              After deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated transaction expenses payable by us, we expect net proceeds from this offering of approximately $              million (or approximately $              million if the underwriters' overallotment option is exercised in full).

              We intend to contribute the net proceeds to the Operating Partnership in exchange for a number of units to be issued by the Operating Partnership equal to the number of common shares sold in this offering, thereby increasing our ownership interest in the Operating Partnership. Our Operating Partnership intends to use the net proceeds from the sale of the common shares offered by this prospectus supplement to repay existing indebtedness, including a portion of the outstanding balance of the revolving loans under our unsecured credit facility, and for general corporate purposes.

              At June 30, 2009, we had approximately $304 million outstanding under our unsecured revolving credit facility comprised of $200 million of term loan borrowings and $104 million of unsecured revolving loans. The facility has a November 20, 2009 maturity date, with a one-year extension option. At June 30, 2009, borrowings under the unsecured credit facility had a weighted-average interest rate of 1.81%.

              On August 11, 2009, we borrowed an additional $85 million of unsecured revolving loans in order to repay the outstanding mortgage indebtedness of YSI III, LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary. This draw increased the total balance outstanding on the credit facility to $389 million, with unsecured revolving loan borrowings totaling $189 million.

              Affiliates of certain of the underwriters in this offering act as lenders and/or agents under our unsecured revolving credit facility. As described above, we intend to use the net proceeds of this offering to repay a portion of the outstanding indebtedness under our unsecured revolving credit facility, and those affiliates therefore may receive a portion of the proceeds from this offering through the repayment of those borrowings. See "Underwriting—Other Relationships" below.

              Pending application of any portion of the net proceeds, we may invest it in interest-bearing accounts and short-term, interest-bearing securities consistent with our intention to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT. Such investments may include, for example, obligations of the Government National Mortgage Association, other government and governmental agency securities, certificates of deposit and interest-bearing bank deposits.

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CAPITALIZATION

              The following table sets forth our capitalization:

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on an actual basis as of June 30, 2009; and



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on an as adjusted basis to reflect:



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the sale of 22,000,000 common shares offered by us in this offering at a public offering price of $            per share, and after the deduction of the underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated transaction expenses payable by us and the application of the net proceeds as set forth under "Use of Proceeds;"



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draw of $85 million of unsecured revolving loans under our existing revolving credit facility on August 11, 2009 to repay the outstanding mortgage indebtedness of YSI III, LLC; and



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$3.6 million and $2.3 million of capital proceeds received since June 30, 2009 from the sale of a property in New Mexico and through the closing of a secured term loan, respectively, which was used to repay a portion of the unsecured revolving loans under our revolving credit facility.

              The table does not give effect to up to 3,300,000 additional common shares that may be sold pursuant to the underwriters' overallotment option. You should read the following table in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes which are incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement.

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PRICE RANGE OF COMMON SHARES AND DIVIDENDS

              Our common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "YSI." The table below sets forth, for the fiscal quarters indicated, high and low reported sales prices per share on the New York Stock Exchange and the cash dividends per share with respect to such fiscal quarter. The last reported sale price of our common shares on the New York Stock Exchange on August 11, 2009 was $5.81 per share.

              Our board of trustees has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.025 per common share for the period ending September 30, 2009. The dividend is payable on October 22, 2009 to common shareholders of record on October 7, 2009; accordingly, purchasers of common shares in this offering who hold such shares on October 7, 2009 will be entitled to receive this dividend. We do not contemplate the declaration and payment of any other dividends with respect to our common shares in 2009.

              We can provide no assurance that our board of trustees will not reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends on our common shares, or change the form of any dividend payments in accordance with applicable Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, procedures, in the future. Our board of trustees will continue to evaluate our per share dividend payments on a quarterly basis as they monitor the capital markets and the impact of the economy on us. The decision as to whether to authorize and pay dividends on our common shares in the future, as well as the timing, amount and composition of any such future dividends, will be at the sole discretion of our board of trustees in light of conditions then existing, including our earnings, funds from operations, financial condition, liquidity, capital requirements, debt maturities, the availability of capital, contractual prohibitions or other restrictions, applicable REIT and legal restrictions and general overall economic conditions and other factors. While the statements above concerning our dividend policy represent our current expectation, any actual dividend payable will be determined by our board of trustees based upon the circumstances at the time of declaration and the actual number of shares then outstanding, and any dividend payable may vary from such expected amounts.

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ADDITIONAL FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

              The following discussion supplements the discussion under the heading "Federal Income Tax Consequences of Our Status as a REIT" in the accompanying prospectus. The following is a summary of certain additional federal income tax considerations regarding certain distributions of our shares and the ownership of our common shares. You should consult your own tax advisor regarding the specific tax consequences of the purchase, ownership and sale of our common shares.

Certain Distributions of Our Shares

              The IRS recently issued guidance that permits certain distributions made by a REIT consisting of both cash and its shares to be treated as dividend distributions for purposes of satisfying the annual distribution requirements applicable to REITs. Based on that guidance, if we satisfy certain requirements, including the requirement that at least 10% of the total value of any such distribution consists of cash, the cash and our shares that we distribute will be treated as a dividend, to the extent of our earnings and profits. If we make such a distribution to our shareholders, each of our shareholders will be required to treat the total value of the distribution that each shareholder receives as a dividend, to the extent of each shareholder's pro-rata share of our earnings and profits, regardless of whether such shareholder receives cash, our shares or a combination of cash and our shares. As a result, a shareholder receiving such dividends may be required to pay income taxes with respect to such dividends in excess of the cash dividends received. If a shareholder sells the shares it receives as a dividend in order to pay this tax, the sales proceeds may be less than the amount included in income with respect to the dividend, depending on the market price of the shares at the time of distribution and the amount received upon sale of the shares. Furthermore, withholding of U.S. tax on such dividends paid to non-U.S. shareholders may be required. A shareholder who receives all or a portion of a dividend in common shares would have a tax basis in such shares equal to the amount of cash that could have been received instead of such shares as described above, and the holding period in such shares would begin on the day following the payment date of the dividend. For a general discussion of the federal income tax consequences to our shareholders on the receipt of dividends, see below, "—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders," "—Taxation of Tax-Exempt Shareholders" and "—Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders."

              We advise each of our shareholders that the taxes resulting from their receipt of a distribution consisting of cash and our shares may exceed the cash that they receive in the distribution. We urge each of our shareholders to consult their tax advisors regarding the specific federal, state, local and foreign income and other tax consequences of distributions consisting of both cash and our shares.

Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders

              For purposes of the following discussion, the term "U.S. shareholder" means a holder of our common shares that, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, is:

•

a citizen or resident of the United States;



•

a corporation (including an entity treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes) created or organized under the laws of the United States, any of its states or the District of Columbia;



•

an estate whose income is subject to U.S. federal income taxation regardless of its source; or



•

any trust if (1) a U.S. court is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of such trust and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (2) it has a valid election in place to be treated as a U.S. person.

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              As long as we qualify as a REIT, distributions made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits that we do not designate as capital gain dividends or retained long-term capital gains will be ordinary dividend income to taxable U.S. shareholders. A U.S. shareholder will not qualify for the dividends-received deduction generally available to corporations. Dividends paid to a U.S. shareholder generally will not qualify for the 15% tax rate for "qualified dividend income." Legislation enacted in 2003 and 2006 reduced the maximum tax rate for qualified dividend income from 38.6% to 15% for tax years 2003 through 2010. Without future congressional action, the maximum tax rate on qualified dividend income will increase to 39.6% in 2011. Qualified dividend income generally includes dividends paid by domestic "C" corporations and certain qualified foreign corporations to most noncorporate U.S. shareholders. Because a REIT is not generally subject to federal income tax on the portion of its REIT taxable income distributed to its shareholders, our dividends generally will not be eligible for the 15% rate on qualified dividend income. As a result, our ordinary REIT dividends will be taxed at the higher rate applicable to ordinary income. Currently, the highest marginal individual income tax rate on ordinary income is 35%. The 15% tax rate for qualified dividend income will apply, however, to our ordinary REIT dividends, if any, that are (i) attributable to dividends received by us from non-REIT corporations, such as our taxable REIT subsidiary, and (ii) attributable to income upon which we have paid corporate income tax (e.g., to the extent that we distribute less than 100% of our taxable income). In general, to qualify for the reduced tax rate on qualified dividend income under such circumstances, a U.S. shareholder must hold our common shares for more than 60 days during the 121-day period beginning on the date that is 60 days before the date on which our common shares become ex-dividend.

              If a partnership, entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes holds our common shares, the federal income tax treatment of a partner in the partnership will generally depend on the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If you are a partner in a partnership holding our common shares, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the consequences of the ownership and disposition of our common shares by the partnership.

              Any distribution we declare in October, November, or December of any year that is payable to a U.S. shareholder of record on a specified date in any of those months will be treated as paid by us and received by the U.S. shareholder on December 31 of the year, provided we actually pay the distribution during January of the following calendar year.

              Distributions to a U.S. shareholder which we designate as capital gain dividends will generally be treated as long-term capital gain, without regard to the period for which the U.S. shareholder has held our shares. We generally will designate our capital gain dividends as either 15% or 25% rate distributions. A corporate U.S. shareholder, however, may be required to treat up to 20% of certain capital gain dividends as ordinary income.

              We may elect to retain and pay income tax on the net long-term capital gain that we receive in a taxable year. In that case, a U.S. shareholder would be taxed on its proportionate share of our undistributed long-term capital gain. The U.S. shareholder would receive a credit or refund for its proportionate share of the tax we paid. The U.S. shareholder would increase the basis in its common shares by the amount of its proportionate share of our undistributed long-term capital gain, minus its share of the tax we paid.

              A U.S. shareholder will not incur tax on a distribution in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits if the distribution does not exceed the adjusted basis of the U.S. shareholder's common shares. Instead, the distribution will reduce the adjusted basis of the shares, and any amount in excess of both our current and accumulated earnings and profits and the adjusted basis will be treated as capital gain, long-term if the shares have been held for more than one year, provided the shares are a capital asset in the hands of the U.S. shareholder.

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              Shareholders may not include in their individual income tax returns any of our net operating losses or capital losses. Instead, these losses are generally carried over by us for potential offset against our future income. Taxable distributions from us and gain from the disposition of common shares will not be treated as passive activity income; and, therefore, shareholders generally will not be able to apply any "passive activity losses," such as, for example, losses from certain types of limited partnerships in which the shareholder is a limited partner, against such income. In addition, taxable distributions from us and gain from the disposition of common shares generally will be treated as investment income for purposes of the investment interest limitations. We will notify shareholders after the close of our taxable year as to the portions of the distributions attributable to that year that constitute ordinary income, return of capital and capital gain.

              Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders on the Disposition of Common Shares.    In general, a U.S. shareholder who is not a dealer in securities must treat any gain or loss realized upon a taxable disposition of our common shares as long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. shareholder has held the shares for more than one year, and otherwise as short-term capital gain or loss. In general, a U.S. shareholder will realize gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the sum of the fair market value of any property and the amount of cash received in such disposition and the U.S. shareholder's adjusted tax basis. A U.S. shareholder's adjusted tax basis generally will equal the U.S. shareholder's acquisition cost, increased by the excess of undistributed net capital gains deemed distributed to the U.S. shareholder over the tax deemed paid by it and decreased by any returns of capital. However, a U.S. shareholder must treat any loss upon a sale or exchange of common shares held by such shareholder for six months or less as a long-term capital loss to the extent of capital gain dividends and any actual or deemed distributions from us that such U.S. shareholder treats as long-term capital gain. All or a portion of any loss that a U.S. shareholder realizes upon a taxable disposition of common shares may be disallowed if the U.S. shareholder purchases other common shares within 30 days before or after the disposition.

              Capital Gains and Losses.    The tax-rate differential between capital gain and ordinary income for non-corporate taxpayers may be significant. A taxpayer generally must hold a capital asset for more than one year for gain or loss derived from its sale or exchange to be treated as long-term capital gain or loss. The highest marginal individual income tax rate is currently 35% (which rate currently is scheduled to apply through December 31, 2010). The maximum tax rate on long-term capital gain applicable to U.S. shareholders taxed at individual rates currently is 15% (which rate currently is scheduled to apply through December 31, 2010). The maximum tax rate on long-term capital gain from the sale or exchange of "section 1250 property" (i.e., generally, depreciable real property) is 25% to the extent the gain would have been treated as ordinary income if the property were "section 1245 property" (i.e., generally, depreciable personal property). We generally may designate whether a distribution we designate as capital gain dividends (and any retained capital gain that we are deemed to distribute) is taxable to non-corporate shareholders at a 15% or 25% rate. The characterization of income as capital gain or ordinary income may affect the deductibility of capital losses. A non-corporate taxpayer may deduct capital losses not offset by capital gains against its ordinary income only up to a maximum of $3,000 annually. A non-corporate taxpayer may carry unused capital losses forward indefinitely. A corporate taxpayer must pay tax on its net capital gain at corporate ordinary-income rates. A corporate taxpayer may deduct capital losses only to the extent of capital gains, with unused losses carried back three years and forward five years.

              Information Reporting Requirements and Backup Withholding.    We will report to our shareholders and to the IRS the amount of distributions we pay during each calendar year and the amount of tax we

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withhold, if any. A shareholder may be subject to backup withholding at a rate of up to 28% with respect to distributions unless the holder:

•

is a corporation or comes within certain other exempt categories and, when required, demonstrates this fact; or



•

provides a taxpayer identification number, certifies as to no loss of exemption from backup withholding, and otherwise complies with the applicable requirements of the backup withholding rules.

              A shareholder who does not provide us with its correct taxpayer identification number also may be subject to penalties imposed by the IRS. Any amount paid as backup withholding will be creditable against the shareholder's income tax liability. In addition, we may be required to withhold a portion of capital gain distributions to any shareholders who fail to certify their non-foreign status to us.

              Backup withholding will generally not apply to payments of dividends made by us or our paying agents, in their capacities as such, to a non-U.S. shareholder provided that the non-U.S. shareholder furnishes to us or our paying agent the required certification as to its non-U.S. status, such as providing a valid IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8ECI, or certain other requirements are met. Notwithstanding the foregoing, backup withholding may apply if either we or our paying agent has actual knowledge, or reason to know, that the holder is a U.S. person that is not an exempt recipient. Payments of the proceeds from a disposition or a redemption effected outside the U.S. by a non-U.S. shareholder made by or through a foreign office of a broker generally will not be subject to information reporting or backup withholding. However, information reporting (but not backup withholding) generally will apply to such a payment if the broker has certain connections with the U.S. unless the broker has documentary evidence in its records that the beneficial owner is a non-U.S. shareholder and specified conditions are met or an exemption is otherwise established. Payment of the proceeds from a disposition by a non-U.S. shareholder of common shares made by or through the U.S. office of a broker is generally subject to information reporting and backup withholding unless the non-U.S. shareholder certifies under penalties of perjury that it is not a U.S. person and satisfies certain other requirements, or otherwise establishes an exemption from information reporting and backup withholding.

              Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules may be refunded or credited against the shareholder's federal income tax liability if certain required information is furnished to the IRS. Shareholders should consult their own tax advisors regarding application of backup withholding to them and the availability of, and procedure for obtaining an exemption from, backup withholding.

Taxation of Tax-Exempt Shareholders

              Tax-exempt entities, including qualified employee pension and profit sharing trusts and individual retirement accounts and annuities, generally are exempt from federal income taxation. However, they are subject to taxation on their "unrelated business taxable income." While many investments in real estate generate unrelated business taxable income, the IRS has issued a ruling that dividend distributions from a REIT to an exempt employee pension trust do not constitute unrelated business taxable income so long as the exempt employee pension trust does not otherwise use the shares of the REIT in an unrelated trade or business of the pension trust. Based on that ruling, amounts we distribute to tax-exempt shareholders generally should not constitute unrelated business taxable income. However, if a tax-exempt shareholder were to finance its acquisition of common shares with debt, a portion of the income it received from us would constitute unrelated business taxable income pursuant to the "debt-financed property" rules. Furthermore, social clubs, voluntary employee benefit associations, supplemental unemployment benefit trusts, and qualified group legal services plans that are exempt from taxation under special provisions of the federal income tax laws are subject to

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different unrelated business taxable income rules, which generally will require them to characterize distributions they receive from us as unrelated business taxable income.

              Finally, in certain circumstances, a qualified employee pension or profit-sharing trust that owns more than 10% of our shares of beneficial interest (by value) must treat a percentage of the dividends it receives from us as unrelated business taxable income. This rule applies to a pension trust holding more than 10% of our shares only if:

•

the percentage of our dividends that the tax-exempt trust must treat as unrelated business taxable income is at least 5%;



•

we qualify as a REIT by reason of the modification of the rule requiring that no more than 50% of our shares of beneficial interest be owned by five or fewer individuals that allows the beneficiaries of the pension trust to be treated as holding our shares in proportion to their actuarial interests in the pension trust; and



•

either:



•

one pension trust owns more than 25% of the value of our shares of beneficial interest; or



•

one or more pension trusts each individually holding more than 10% of the value of our shares of beneficial interest collectively owns more than 50% of the value of our shares of beneficial interest.

              As a result of limitations included in our Declaration of Trust on the transfer and ownership of our shares, we do not expect to be classified as a "pension-held REIT," and as a result, the tax treatment described in this paragraph should be inapplicable to our shareholders. However, because our common shares are publicly traded, we cannot guarantee that this will always be the case.

Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders

              For purposes of the following discussion, the term "non-U.S. shareholder" means a holder of our common shares that is neither a U.S. shareholder nor a partnership (or an entity treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes). The rules governing U.S. federal income taxation of non-U.S. shareholders are complex. This section is only a summary of such rules. We urge non-U.S. shareholders to consult their own tax advisors to determine the impact of federal, state, local and foreign income tax laws on the ownership of our common shares, including any reporting requirements.

              A non-U.S. shareholder that receives a distribution that is not attributable to gain from our sale or exchange of a "United States real property interest" (a "USRPI") (discussed below) and that we do not designate as a capital gain dividend or retained capital gain will recognize ordinary income to the extent that we pay such distribution out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. A withholding tax equal to 30% of the gross amount of the distribution ordinarily will apply unless an applicable tax treaty reduces or eliminates the tax. However, a non-U.S. shareholder generally will be subject to federal income tax at graduated rates on any distribution treated as effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a U.S. trade or business, in the same manner as U.S. shareholders are taxed on distributions. A corporate non-U.S. shareholder may, in addition, be subject to the 30% branch profits tax with respect to that distribution. We plan to withhold U.S. income tax at the rate of 30% on the gross amount of any distribution paid to a non-U.S. shareholder unless either:

•

a lower treaty rate applies and the non-U.S. shareholder submits an IRS Form W-8BEN to us evidencing eligibility for that reduced rate; or



•

the non-U.S. shareholder submits an IRS Form W-8ECI to us claiming that the distribution is effectively connected income.

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              A non-U.S. shareholder will not incur tax on a distribution in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits if the excess portion of such distribution does not exceed the adjusted basis of its common shares. Instead, the excess portion of the distribution will reduce the adjusted basis of such shares. A non-U.S. shareholder will be subject to tax on a distribution that exceeds both our current and accumulated earnings and profits and the adjusted basis of its shares, if the non-U.S. shareholder otherwise would be subject to tax on gain from the sale or disposition of common shares, as described below. Because we generally cannot determine at the time we make a distribution whether the distribution will exceed our current and accumulated earnings and profits, we normally will withhold tax on the entire amount of any distribution at the applicable rate. However, a non-U.S. shareholder may obtain a refund of amounts we withhold if we later determine that a distribution in fact exceeded our current and accumulated earnings and profits.

              We may be required to withhold 10% of any distribution that exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits. Consequently, although we intend to withhold at a rate of 30% on the entire amount of any distribution, to the extent we do not do so, we may withhold at a rate of 10% on any portion of a distribution not subject to withholding at a rate of 30%.

              For any year in which we qualify as a REIT, a non-U.S. shareholder will incur tax on distributions attributable to gain from our sale or exchange of a USRPI under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 ("FIRPTA"). A USRPI includes certain interests in real property and shares in corporations at least 50% of whose assets consist of interests in real property. Under FIRPTA, a non-U.S. shareholder is taxed on distributions attributable to gain from sales of USRPIs as if the gain were effectively connected with the conduct of a U.S. business of the non-U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. shareholder thus would be taxed on such a distribution at the normal capital gain rates applicable to U.S. shareholders, subject to applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of a nonresident alien individual. A non-U.S. corporate shareholder not entitled to treaty relief or exemption also may be subject to the 30% branch profits tax on such a distribution. We must withhold 35% of any distribution that we could designate as a capital gain dividend. A non-U.S. shareholder may receive a credit against its tax liability for the amount we withhold.

              Capital gain distributions to the holders of our common shares that are attributable to our sale of real property will be treated as ordinary dividends rather than as gain from the sale of a USRPI, as long as (i) our common shares continue to be "regularly traded" on an established securities market in the United States and (ii) the non-U.S. shareholder did not own more than 5% of our common shares any time during the one-year period prior to the distribution. As a result, non-U.S. shareholders owning 5% or less of our common shares generally would be subject to withholding tax on such capital gain distributions in the same manner as they are subject to withholding tax on other distributions. If our common shares cease to be regularly traded on an established securities market in the United States or the non-U.S. shareholder owned more than 5% of our common shares any time during the one-year period prior to the distribution, capital gain distributions that are attributable to our sale of real property would be subject to tax under FIRPTA, as described in the preceding paragraph. Moreover, if a non-U.S. shareholder disposes of our common shares during the 30-day period preceding a dividend payment, and such non-U.S. shareholder (or a person related to such non-U.S. shareholder) acquires or enters into a contract or option to acquire our common shares within 61 days of the first day of the 30-day period described above, and any portion of such dividend payment would, but for the disposition, be treated as a USRPI capital gain to such non-U.S. shareholder, then such non-U.S. shareholder shall be treated as having USRPI capital gain in an amount that, but for the disposition, would have been treated as USRPI capital gain.

              A non-U.S. shareholder generally will not incur tax under FIRPTA with respect to gain on a sale of common shares as long as, at all times, non-U.S. persons hold, directly or indirectly, less than 50% in value of our outstanding common shares. We cannot assure you that this test will be met. In

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addition, a non-U.S. shareholder that owned, actually or constructively, 5% or less of the outstanding common shares of a REIT at all times during a specified testing period will not incur tax under FIRPTA on gain from a sale of common shares if the shares are "regularly traded" on an established securities market. Because our common shares are "regularly traded" on an established securities market, we expect that a non-U.S. shareholder generally will not incur tax under FIRPTA on gain from a sale of our common shares unless it owns or has owned more than 5% of our common shares at any time during the five year period prior to such sale. Any gain subject to tax under FIRPTA will be treated in the same manner as it would be in the hands of U.S. shareholders subject to alternative minimum tax, but under a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals.

              A non-U.S. shareholder generally will incur tax on gain not subject to FIRPTA if:

•

the gain is effectively connected with the conduct of the non-U.S. shareholder's U.S. trade or business, in which case the non-U.S. shareholder will be subject to the same treatment as U.S. shareholders with respect to the gain; or



•

the non-U.S. shareholder is a nonresident alien individual who was present in the U.S. for 183 days or more during the taxable year and has a "tax home" in the United States, in which case the non-U.S. shareholder will incur a 30% tax on capital gains.

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UNDERWRITING

              Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are acting as representatives of each of the underwriters named below. Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in an underwriting agreement among us, our Operating Partnership and the underwriters, we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, and each of the underwriters has agreed, severally and not jointly, to purchase from us, the number of common shares set forth opposite its name below.

              Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the underwriting agreement, the underwriters have agreed, severally and not jointly, to purchase all of the common shares to be sold under the underwriting agreement if any of these shares are purchased. If an underwriter defaults, the underwriting agreement provides that the purchase commitments of the nondefaulting underwriters may be increased or the underwriting agreement may be terminated.

              We have agreed to indemnify the underwriters against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribute to payments the underwriters may be required to make in respect of those liabilities.

              The underwriters are offering the common shares, subject to prior sale, when, as and if issued to and accepted by them, subject to approval of legal matters by their counsel, including the validity of the shares, and other conditions contained in the underwriting agreement, such as the receipt by the underwriters of officer's certificates and legal opinions. The underwriters reserve the right to withdraw, cancel or modify offers to the public and to reject orders in whole or in part.

Commissions and Discounts

              The representatives of the underwriters have advised us that the underwriters propose initially to offer the common shares to the public at the public offering price set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement and to dealers at that price less a concession not in excess of $            per share. The underwriters may allow, and the dealers may reallow, a discount not in excess of $            per share to other dealers. After the initial public offering, the public offering price, concession or any other term of the offering may be changed.

              The following table shows the public offering price, underwriting discount and proceeds before expenses to us. The information assumes either no exercise or full exercise by the underwriters of their overallotment option described below.

              We estimate that the total expenses of this offering payable by us, not including the underwriting discount, will be approximately $650,000. In no event will the maximum discount to be received by any FINRA member in connection with this offering exceed 10%.

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Overallotment Option

              We have granted an option to the underwriters to purchase up to 3,300,000 additional common shares at the public offering price appearing on the cover page of this prospectus supplement, less the underwriting discount. The underwriters may exercise this option for 30 days from the date of this prospectus supplement solely to cover any overallotments. If the underwriters exercise this option, each will be obligated, subject to conditions contained in the underwriting agreement, to purchase a number of additional common shares proportionate to that underwriter's initial amount reflected in the above table.

No Sales of Similar Securities

              We, our executive officers and our trustees have agreed not to sell or transfer any common shares or securities convertible into, exchangeable for, exercisable for, or repayable with common shares, for 60 days after the date of this prospectus supplement without first obtaining the written consent of each of the representatives. Specifically, we and these other persons have agreed, with certain limited exceptions, not to directly or indirectly, and, in each case, not to publicly disclose the intention to:

•

offer, pledge, sell or contract to sell any common shares;



•

sell any option or contract to purchase any common shares;



•

purchase any option or contract to sell any common shares;



•

grant any option, right or warrant for the purchase of any common shares;



•

lend or otherwise dispose of or transfer any common shares;



•

request or demand that we file a registration statement related to the common shares; or



•

enter into any swap, hedge or other agreement that transfers, in whole or in part, the economic consequence of ownership of any common shares whether any such swap, hedge or transaction is to be settled by delivery of common shares or other securities, in cash or otherwise.

              This lock-up provision applies to our common shares and to securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for or repayable with our common shares. In the event that either (x) during the last 17 days of the lock-up period referred to above, we issue an earnings release or material news or a material event relating to the Company occurs or (y) prior to the expiration of the lock-up period, we announce that we will release earnings results during the 16-day period beginning on the last day of the lock-up period, the restrictions described above shall continue to apply until the expiration of the 18-day period beginning on the issuance of the earnings release or the occurrence of the material news or material event.

New York Stock Exchange Listing

              Our common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "YSI."

Price Stabilization and Short Positions

              Until the distribution of our common shares is completed, SEC rules may limit underwriters and selling group members from bidding for and purchasing our common shares. However, the representatives may engage in transactions that stabilize the price of the common shares, such as bids or purchases to peg, fix or maintain that price.

              In connection with this offering, the underwriters may purchase and sell our common shares in the open market. These transactions may include short sales, purchases on the open market to cover positions created by short sales and stabilizing transactions. Short sales involve the sale by the underwriters of a greater number of common shares than they are required to purchase in the offering.

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"Covered" short sales are sales made in an amount not greater than the underwriters' overallotment option. The underwriters may close out any covered short position by either exercising their overallotment option or purchasing common shares in the open market. In determining the source of common shares to close out the covered short position, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market as compared to the price at which they may purchase shares through the overallotment option. "Naked" short sales are sales in excess of the underwriters' overallotment option. The underwriters must close out any naked short position by purchasing common shares in the open market. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there may be downward pressure on the price of our common shares in the open market after pricing that could adversely affect investors who purchase in this offering. Stabilizing transactions consist of various bids for or purchases of common shares made by the underwriters in the open market prior to the completion of this offering.

              Similar to other purchase transactions, the underwriters' purchases to cover the syndicate short sales may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of our common shares or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of our common shares. As a result, the price of our common shares may be higher than the price that might otherwise exist in the open market.

              The underwriters may also impose a penalty bid. This occurs when a particular underwriter repays to the underwriters a portion of the underwriting discount received by it because the representatives have repurchased shares sold by or for the account of such underwriter in stabilizing or short covering transactions.

              Neither we nor any of the underwriters make any representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of our common shares. In addition, neither we nor any of the underwriters make any representation that the representatives will engage in these transactions or that these transactions, once commenced, will not be discontinued without notice.

Electronic Offer, Sale and Distribution of Shares

              In connection with this offering, certain of the underwriters or securities dealers may distribute this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus by electronic means, such as e-mail. In addition, certain of the underwriters may facilitate Internet distribution for this offering to certain of their Internet subscription customers. Each such underwriter may allocate a limited number of shares for sale to its online brokerage customers. An electronic prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus is available on the Internet web site maintained by each such underwriter. Other than this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in electronic format, the information on each underwriter's web site is not part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus.

Other Relationships

              Some of the underwriters and their affiliates have engaged in, and may in the future engage in, investment banking, commercial banking and other commercial dealings in the ordinary course of business with us or our affiliates. They have received, or may in the future receive, customary fees and commissions for these transactions.

              Affiliates of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC act as lenders and/or agents under our unsecured revolving credit facility. As described above under "Use of Proceeds," we intend to use the net proceeds of this offering to repay a portion of the outstanding indebtedness under our unsecured revolving credit facility, and those affiliates therefore may receive a portion of the proceeds from this offering through the repayment of those borrowings.

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Sales Outside the United States

              No action has been taken in any jurisdiction (except in the United States) that would permit a public offering of the common shares, or the possession, circulation or distribution of this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or any other material relating to us or the common shares in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. Accordingly, the common shares may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, and none of this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or any other offering material or advertisements in connection with the common shares may be distributed or published, in or from any country or jurisdiction except in compliance with any applicable rules and regulations of any such country or jurisdiction.

              Each of the underwriters may arrange to sell common shares offered hereby in certain jurisdictions outside the United States, either directly or through affiliates, where they are permitted to do so. In that regard, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC may arrange to sell shares in certain jurisdictions through an affiliate, Wells Fargo Securities International Limited, or WFSIL. WFSIL is a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company and an affiliate of Wells Fargo Securities, LLC. WFSIL is a U.K. incorporated investment firm regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Wells Fargo Securities is the trade name for certain corporate and investment banking services of Wells Fargo & Company and its affiliates, including Wells Fargo Securities, LLC and WFSIL.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the EEA

              In relation to each member state of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a relevant member state), an offer to the public of any shares which are the subject of the offering contemplated by this prospectus supplement may not be made in that relevant member state except that an offer to the public in that relevant member state of any common shares may be made at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Directive, if they have been implemented in that relevant member state:

•

to any legal entity that is authorized or regulated to operate in the financial markets or, if not so authorized or regulated, whose corporate purpose is solely to invest in securities;



•

to any legal entity that has two or more of (1) an average of at least 250 employees during the last financial year; (2) a total balance sheet of more than €43,000,000 and (3) an annual net turnover of more than €50,000,000, as shown in its last annual or consolidated accounts;



•

to fewer than 100 natural or legal persons (other than "qualified investors" as defined in the Prospectus Directive) subject to obtaining the prior consent of the underwriters; or



•

in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive,

provided that no such offer of common shares shall result in a requirement for the publication by us or any underwriter of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive.

              Any person making or intending to make any offer within the EEA of common shares which are the subject of the offering contemplated in this prospectus supplement should only do so in circumstances in which no obligation arises for us or any of the underwriters to produce a prospectus for such offer. Neither we nor the underwriters have authorized, nor do they authorize, the making of any offer of common shares through any financial intermediary, other than offers made by the underwriters which constitute the final offering of shares contemplated in this prospectus supplement.

              For the purposes of this provision, and your representation below, the expression an "offer to the public" in any relevant member state means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the securities, as the expression may be varied in that member state by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that member state and the

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expression "Prospectus Directive" means Directive 2003/71/EC and includes any relevant implementing measure in each relevant member state.

              Each person in a relevant member state who receives any communication in respect of, or who acquires any shares under, the offer of common shares contemplated by this prospectus supplement will be deemed to have represented, warranted and agreed to and with us and each underwriter that:

              (a)         it is a "qualified investor" within the meaning of the law in that member state implementing Article 2(1)(e) of the Prospectus Directive; and

              (b)         in the case of any common shares acquired by it as a financial intermediary, as that term is used in Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive, (i) the common shares acquired by it in the offering have not been acquired on behalf of, nor have they been acquired with a view to their offer or resale to, persons in any relevant member state other than "qualified investors" (as defined in the Prospectus Directive), or in circumstances in which the prior consent of the representatives has been given to the offer or resale; or (ii) where common shares have been acquired by it on behalf of persons in any relevant member state other than qualified investors, the offer of those common shares to it is not treated under the Prospectus Directive as having been made to such persons.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the United Kingdom

              In addition, each underwriter: (a) has only communicated or caused to be communicated and will only communicate or cause to be communicated any invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA") received by it in connection with the issue or sale of shares of common stock in circumstances in which Section 21(1) of the FSMA does not apply to us, and (b) has complied and will comply with all applicable provisions of the FSMA with respect to anything done by it in relation to the shares in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom.

              Without limitation to the other restrictions referred to herein, this prospectus supplement is directed only at (1) persons outside the United Kingdom; (2) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of "investment professionals" in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005; or (3) high net worth bodies corporate, unincorporated associations and partnerships and trustees of high value trusts as described in Article 49(2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005. Without limitation to the other restrictions referred to herein, any investment or investment activity to which this prospectus supplement relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, such persons, and persons within the United Kingdom who receive this communication (other than persons who fall within (2) or (3) above) should not rely or act upon this communication.

Notice to Prospective Investors in France

              The prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus (including any amendment, supplement or replacement thereto) have not been prepared in connection with the offering of our securities that has been approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers or by the competent authority of another State that is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area and notified to the Autorité des marchés financiers; no security has been offered or sold and will be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, to the public in France except to permitted investors, or Permitted Investors, consisting of persons licensed to provide the investment service of portfolio management for the account of third parties, qualified investors (investisseurs qualifiés) acting for their own account and/or corporate investors meeting one of the four criteria provided in article D. 341-1 of the French Code Monétaire et Financier and belonging to a limited circle of investors (cercle restreint d'investisseurs) acting for their own account, with "qualified investors" and "limited circle of investors"

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having the meaning ascribed to them in Article L. 411-2, D. 411-1, D. 411-2, D. 734-1, D. 744-1, D. 754-1 and D. 764-1 of the French Code Monétaire et Financier; none of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying Prospectus or any other materials related to the offer or information contained therein relating to our securities has been released, issued or distributed to the public in France except to Permitted Investors; and the direct or indirect resale to the public in France of any securities acquired by any Permitted Investors may be made only as provided by articles L. 411-1, L. 411-2, L. 412-1 and L. 621-8 to L. 621-8-3 of the French Code Monétaire et Financier and applicable regulations thereunder.

Notice to Prospective Investors in Switzerland

              This document as well as any other material relating to the common shares which are the subject of the offering contemplated by this prospectus supplement do not constitute an issue prospectus pursuant to Article 652a of the Swiss Code of Obligations. The common shares will not be listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange and, therefore, the documents relating to the shares, including, but not limited to, this document, do not claim to comply with the disclosure standards of the listing rules of SWX Swiss Exchange and corresponding prospectus schemes annexed to the listing rules of the SWX Swiss Exchange.

              The common shares are being offered in Switzerland by way of a private placement, i.e. to a small number of selected investors only, without any public offer and only to investors who do not purchase the common shares with the intention to distribute them to the public. The investors will be individually approached by us from time to time.

              This document as well as any other material relating to the common shares is personal and confidential and do not constitute an offer to any other person. This document may only be used by those investors to whom it has been handed out in connection with the offering described herein and may neither directly nor indirectly be distributed or made available to other persons without our express consent. It may not be used in connection with any other offer and shall in particular not be copied and/or distributed to the public in (or from) Switzerland.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the Dubai International Financial Centre

              This document relates to an exempt offer in accordance with the Offered Securities Rules of the Dubai Financial Services Authority. This document is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in those rules. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The Dubai Financial Services Authority has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with exempt offers. The Dubai Financial Services Authority has not approved this document nor taken steps to verify the information set out in it, and has no responsibility for it. The common shares which are the subject of the offering contemplated by this prospectus supplement may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the shares offered should conduct their own due diligence on such shares. If you do not understand the contents of this document, you should consult an authorized financial adviser.

LEGAL MATTERS

              Certain legal matters and certain federal income tax matters will be passed upon for us by Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, Memphis, Tennessee. Certain matters of Maryland law, including the validity of the common shares to be issued in connection with this offering, will be passed upon for us by Venable LLP, Baltimore, Maryland. Hunton & Williams LLP will act as counsel to the underwriters with respect to this offering. Hunton & Williams may rely upon the opinion of Venable LLP with respect to matters of Maryland law.

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EXPERTS

              The consolidated financial statements and the related financial statement schedule as of December 31, 2008 and 2007 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2008 incorporated in this prospectus supplement by reference from the U-Store-It Trust and subsidiaries' Current Report on Form 8-K dated August 7, 2009, and the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008 have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their reports, which are incorporated herein by reference (which reports (1) express an unqualified opinion and include an explanatory paragraph relating to the retrospective effects of the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 160, Noncontrolling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements-an amendment of ARB No. 51 and (2) express an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting). Such financial statements and financial statement schedules have been so incorporated in reliance upon the reports of such firm given upon their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

              We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any document we file at the SEC's public reference room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. You may request copies of these documents by writing to the SEC and paying a fee for the copying cost. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for more information about the operation of the public reference room. Our SEC filings are also available to the public at the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, you may read and copy our SEC filings at the office of the New York Stock Exchange at 20 Broad Street, New York, New York 10005. We also make available free of charge through our website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as well as the definitive proxy statement and Section 16 reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5. Our website address is www.ustoreit.com. However, the information located on, or accessible from, our website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, except as described below, a part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus or incorporated into any other filings that we make with the SEC.

              The SEC allows us to "incorporate by reference" the information we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those documents. The information incorporated by reference is considered to be part of this prospectus supplement, and the accompanying prospectus and the information we file subsequently with the SEC prior to the completion of this offering will automatically update and supersede this information.

              We previously filed the following documents with the SEC and such filings are incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement:

•

Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (including portions of our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2009 Annual Meeting of Shareholders incorporated therein by reference);



•

Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2009;



•

Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009;



•

Current Reports on Form 8-K filed on August 7, 2009 (containing Items 1.01 and 9.01), August 7, 2009 (containing Items 8.01 and 9.01), April 7, 2009, April 3, 2009, February 19, 2009, and on January 26, 2009; and

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The description of our common shares contained in our Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed on October 19, 2004, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

              All documents we file pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act after the date of this prospectus supplement and before all of the securities offered by this prospectus supplement are sold are incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement from the date of the filing of such documents, except for information "furnished" under Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of Form 8-K or other information "furnished" to the SEC which is not deemed filed and not incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Information that we subsequently file with the SEC will automatically update and may supersede information in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and information previously filed with the SEC.

              You may request a copy of these filings (other than exhibits, unless the exhibits are specifically incorporated by reference into these documents) at no cost by contacting Investor Relations by mail at 460 E. Swedesford Road, Suite 3000, Wayne, Pennsylvania 19087 or by calling (610) 293-5700.

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PROSPECTUS

Common Shares
Preferred Shares
Debt Securities
Depositary Shares
Warrants
Subscription Rights

        We may from time to time offer, in one or more classes or series, separately or together, and in amounts, at prices and on terms to be set forth in one or more supplements to this prospectus, the following securities:

•

common shares of beneficial interest, par value $.01 per share;



•

preferred shares of beneficial interest, par value $.01 per share;



•

debt securities, which may be senior, subordinated or junior subordinated and convertible or non-convertible;



•

depositary shares representing entitlement to all rights and preferences of fractions of preferred shares of a specified series and represented by depositary receipts;



•

warrants to purchase common shares, preferred shares, debt securities or depositary shares; and



•

subscription rights to purchase common shares, preferred shares, debt securities or depository shares.

        We refer to our common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, depositary shares, warrants and subscription rights collectively as the "securities."

        This prospectus describes some of the general terms that may apply to these securities. The specific terms of any securities to be offered, and any other information relating to a specific offering, will be set forth in a post-effective amendment to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, in a supplement to this prospectus or in one or more documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus. In addition, this prospectus may be used to offer securities for the account of persons other than us. We or any selling securityholder may offer and sell these securities to or through one or more underwriters, dealers and agents, or directly to purchasers, on a continuous or delayed basis.

        Our common shares are listed on The New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, under the symbol "YSI."

        Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See "Risk Factors" on page 4 before you make your investment decision.

        Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities regulators have approved or disapproved these securities, or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

          

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This prospectus is dated January 13, 2009.

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        You should rely only on the information provided or incorporated by reference into this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different or additional information. This prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy by anyone in any jurisdiction in which such offer to sell is not authorized, or in which the person is not qualified to do so or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. You should not assume that the information included in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement, or the documents incorporated by reference herein or therein is accurate as of any date other than the date of this prospectus, any prospectus supplement or incorporated document, as applicable. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

        This prospectus is part of a universal shelf registration statement on Form S-3 that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act. To the extent required for any offer and sale, a prospectus supplement will set forth the type and number of securities being offered, the offering price, the names of any underwriters, dealers, brokers or agents and the applicable sales commission or discount. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should read carefully the entire prospectus and any prospectus supplement, as well as the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus and/or any prospectus supplement, before making an investment decision.

        This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement do not contain all of the information included in the registration statement. For further information, we refer you to the registration statement, including the exhibits. Statements contained in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement about the provisions or contents of any agreement or other document are not necessarily complete. If the rules and regulations of the SEC require that such agreement or document be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement, please see such agreement or document for a complete description of these matters.

        When used in this prospectus, except where the context otherwise requires, the terms "we," "us," "our" and the "Company" refer to U-Store-It Trust.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

        We are subject to the informational requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. Accordingly, we file current, quarterly and annual reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy these reports, proxy statements and other information at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the SEC's Public Reference Room. Our SEC filings also are available to the public at the Internet website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov and from commercial document retrieval services.

        We also make available free of charge through our website our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, our definitive proxy statements and Section 16 reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such reports or amendments with, or furnish them to, the SEC. Our Internet website address is www.u-store-it.com. The information located on, or hyperlinked or otherwise connected to, our website is not, and shall not be deemed to be, a part of this prospectus or incorporated into any other filings that we make with the SEC. You may also inspect the information that we file with the NYSE, at the offices of the NYSE located at 20 Broad Street, New York, New York 10005.

INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION BY REFERENCE

        We incorporate information into this prospectus by reference, which means that we disclose important information to you by referring you to another document filed separately with the SEC. The information incorporated by reference is deemed to be part of this prospectus, except to the extent superseded by information contained herein or by information contained in documents filed with the SEC after the date of this prospectus. This prospectus incorporates by reference the documents set forth below that have been previously filed with the SEC (other than, in each case, documents or information deemed to have been "furnished" and not "filed" in accordance with SEC rules):

•

our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007;



•

our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2008;

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•

our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2008;



•

our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2008;



•

our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 25, 2008;



•

our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 28, 2008;



•

our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on October 3, 2008;



•

our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on November 10, 2008;



•

our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on November 26, 2008;



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our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on December 2, 2008;



•

our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on December 16, 2008; and



•

the description of our common shares from our Registration Statement on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on October 19, 2004, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

        We also incorporate by reference into this prospectus additional documents that we may file with the SEC under Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, from the date of this prospectus until all of the securities offered by this prospectus have been sold or we otherwise terminate the offering of these securities; provided, however, that we are not incorporating by reference any additional documents or information "furnished" and not "filed" with the SEC. You may obtain copies of any of these filings by contacting us at the following address and phone number or by contacting the SEC or NYSE as described above. Documents incorporated by reference are available from us without charge, excluding all exhibits unless an exhibit has been specifically incorporated by reference into this prospectus, by requesting them in writing, by telephone or via the Internet at:

U-Store-It Trust
Attention: Investor Relations
460 East Swedesford Road, Suite 3000
Wayne, PA 19087
Phone: (610) 293-5700
Internet Website: www.u-store-it.com

        The information contained on our website does not constitute a part of this prospectus, and our website address supplied above is intended to be an inactive textual reference only and not an active hyperlink to our website.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

        This prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement, together with other documents and information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.

        The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference reflect our current views about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes in circumstances that may cause our actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Such statements are based on assumptions and expectations that may not be realized and are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and other

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factors, many of which cannot be predicted with accuracy and some of which might not even be anticipated. Although we believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, future events and actual results, performance, transactions or achievements, financial and otherwise, may differ materially from the results, performance, transactions or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that might cause such differences, some of which could be material, include, but are not limited to:

•

national and local economic, business, real estate and other market conditions;



•

the competitive environment in which we operate;



•

the execution of our business plan;



•

financing risks, including the risk of over leverage and the corresponding risk of default on our mortgage loans and other debt and potential inability to refinance existing indebtedness;



•

increases in interest rates and operating costs;



•

counterparty non-performance related to the use of derivative financial instruments;



•

our ability to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes;



•

acquisition and development risks;



•

changes in real estate and zoning laws or regulations;



•

risks related to natural disasters;



•

potential environmental and other liabilities;



•

other factors affecting the real estate industry generally or the self-storage industry in particular; and



•

other risks identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and, from time to time, in other reports we file with the SEC or in other documents that we publicly disseminate.

        Before acquiring our securities, you should carefully consider the risks and information contained, or incorporated by reference, in this prospectus or in any accompanying prospectus supplement, including, without limitation, the risks set forth under the captions "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors" and "Part II, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" (or similar captions) in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as updated by Form 8-K dated December 2, 2008, and under the captions "Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors" and "Part I, Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as updated by Form 8-K dated December 2, 2008, and as described in our other filings with the SEC. The occurrence of any events or circumstances that we identify as risks might cause you to lose all or a part of your investment in our securities. We do not intend, and disclaim any duty or obligation, to update or revise any industry information or forward-looking statements set forth in this prospectus to reflect new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by the securities laws.

THE COMPANY

        We are a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition and development of self-storage facilities in the United States.

        We own and conduct all of our business through U-Store-It, L.P., our "operating partnership," of which we serve as general partner, and its subsidiaries. As of September 30, 2008, we owned approximately 91.9% of the aggregate partnership interests in our operating partnership. Since its formation in 1996, our operating partnership has been engaged in virtually all aspects of the

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self-storage business, including the development, acquisition, ownership and operation of self-storage facilities.

        Our self-storage facilities are designed to offer affordable, easily-accessible and secure storage space for residential and commercial customers. Our customers rent storage units for their exclusive use, typically on a month-to-month basis. Our facilities are specifically designed to accommodate both residential and commercial customers, with features such as security systems and wide aisles and load-bearing capabilities for large truck access. Our customers can access their storage units during business hours, and some of our facilities provide customers with 24-hour access through computer-controlled access systems. Our goal is to provide our customers with the highest standard of facilities and service in the industry.

        We were formed in July 2004 to succeed the self-storage operations owned directly and indirectly by Robert J. Amsdell, Barry L. Amsdell, Todd C. Amsdell, and their affiliated entities and related family trusts (which entities and family trusts are referred to herein as the "Amsdell Entities"). We are organized as a REIT under Maryland law, and we believe that we qualify for taxation as a REIT for federal income tax purposes beginning with our short taxable year ended December 31, 2004. From inception until October 2004, we did not have any operations. We commenced operations as a publicly-traded REIT in October 2004 after completing the mergers of certain Amsdell Entities with and into us, our initial public offering, or IPO, and the consummation of various other formation transactions that occurred concurrently with, or shortly after, completion of our IPO.

RISK FACTORS

        Investment in any securities offered pursuant to this prospectus involves risks. You should carefully consider the risk factors incorporated by reference to our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and the other information contained in this prospectus, as updated by our subsequent filings under the Exchange Act, and the risk factors and other information contained in the applicable prospectus supplement before acquiring any of such securities. The occurrence of any of these risks might cause you to lose all or part of your investment in the offered securities. Please also refer to the section below entitled "Forward-Looking Statements."

USE OF PROCEEDS

        Unless we specify otherwise in a prospectus supplement, we intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of securities by us to provide additional funds for general corporate purposes. If net proceeds from a specific offering will be used to repay indebtedness, the applicable prospectus supplement will describe the relevant terms of the debt to be repaid. We will not receive proceeds from the sale of securities by persons other than us except as may otherwise be stated in an applicable prospectus supplement.

CONSOLIDATED RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES

        The consolidated ratio of earnings to fixed charges for each of the periods indicated is as follows:

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(1)

The twelve months ended December 31, 2004 represents consolidated operating results for the Company from October 21, 2004 to December 31, 2004 and consolidated and combined operating results for Acquiport/Amsdell (the "Predecessor") from January 1, 2004 to October 20, 2004. The operating results for the year ended December 31, 2004 are not comparable to future expected operating results of the Company since they include various IPO-related charges.

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(2)

Due to our losses in fiscal 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and the nine months ended September 30, 2008 the coverage ratio was less than 1:1. The Company must generate additional earnings of $34.0 million, $2.0 million, $13.4 million, $20.2 million and $14.9 million to achieve a coverage of 1:1 in fiscal 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and the nine months ended September 30, 2008, respectively.

        For the purpose of calculating the ratio of earnings to fixed charges, earnings consist of income from continuing operations before loss from investments in unconsolidated entities and minority interests, plus fixed charges less capitalized interest. Fixed charges consist of interest expense, capitalized interest, amortized premiums, discounts and capitalized expenses relating to debt and an estimate of the interest component of rent expense.

DESCRIPTION OF OUR CAPITAL SHARES

        The following description of our capital shares, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplement, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the capital shares that may be offered under this prospectus. For the complete terms of our capital shares, please refer to our declaration of trust and bylaws that are filed as exhibits to our reports incorporated by reference into the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. See "Where You Can Find More Information."

Common Shares

        Our declaration of trust provides that we may issue up to 200,000,000 common shares of beneficial interest, par value $0.01 per share. As of December 23, 2008, there were 57,829,845 common shares issued and outstanding.

        Maryland law and our declaration of trust provide that none of our shareholders is personally liable for any of our obligations solely as a result of that shareholder's status as a shareholder.

        Subject to the provisions of our declaration of trust regarding restrictions on the transfer and ownership of shares of beneficial interest, each outstanding common share entitles the holder to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders, including the election of trustees, and, except as provided with respect to any other class or series of shares of beneficial interest that we may issue, the holders of such common shares will possess exclusive voting power. There is no cumulative voting in the election of trustees. As a result, the holders of a majority of the outstanding common shares, voting as a single class, can elect all of the trustees then standing for election. Our bylaws provide that a plurality of the votes case at a meeting of shareholders duly called at which a quorum is present is sufficient to elect a trustee and that a majority of the votes cast at a meeting of shareholders duly called at which a quorum is present is sufficient to approve any other matter which may properly come before the meeting, unless a higher vote is required under our bylaws, our declaration of trust or applicable statute.

        Under the Maryland statute governing REITs formed under the laws of that state, which we refer to as the Maryland REIT law, a Maryland REIT generally cannot amend its declaration of trust or merge with another entity without the affirmative vote of shareholders holding at least two-thirds of the shares entitled to vote on the matter unless a lesser percentage (but not less than a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast on the matter) is set forth in the REIT's declaration of trust. Our declaration of trust provides that amendments to the declaration of trust and our merger with another entity may be approved by the affirmative vote of the holders of not less than a majority of all votes entitled to be cast on the matter. Under the Maryland REIT law and our declaration of trust, our trustees will be permitted to amend the declaration of trust from time to time to maintain our qualification as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, and under the Maryland REIT law, without the affirmative vote or written consent of the shareholders.

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        All common shares offered by this prospectus will be duly authorized, fully paid and nonassessable. Holders of our common shares are entitled to receive dividends and distributions when authorized by our board of trustees, and declared by us out of assets legally available for the payment of dividends or distributions. They also are entitled to share ratably in our assets legally available for distribution to our shareholders in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, after payment of or adequate provision for all of our known debts and liabilities. These rights are subject to the preferential rights of any other class or series of our shares and to the provisions of our declaration of trust regarding restrictions on transfer of our shares.

        Holders of our common shares have no preference, conversion, exchange, sinking fund, redemption or appraisal rights and have no preemptive rights to subscribe for any of our securities. Subject to the restrictions on transfer of shares contained in our declaration of trust and to the power of the board of trustees to create common shares with differing voting rights, all common shares have equal dividend, liquidation and other rights.

Preferred Shares

        Our declaration of trust provides that we may issue up to 40,000,000 preferred shares of beneficial interest, par value $0.01 per share. As of December 23, 2008, there were no preferred shares issued and outstanding.

        Our board is authorized to issue the preferred shares in one or more series and to fix and designate the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of the preferred shares, including:

•

dividend rights;



•

conversion rights;



•

voting rights;



•

redemption rights and terms of redemption; and



•

liquidation preferences.

        The rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions of the preferred shares of each series will be fixed by articles supplementary relating to each series. We will describe the specific terms of a particular series of preferred shares in the prospectus supplement relating to that series, including:

•

the title of the series and the number of shares in the series;



•

the price at which the preferred shares will be offered;



•

the dividend rate or rates or method of calculating the rates, the dates on which the dividends will be payable, whether or not dividends will be cumulative or non-cumulative and, if cumulative, the dates from which dividends on the preferred shares being offered will cumulate;



•

the voting rights, if any, of the holders of preferred shares being offered;



•

the provisions for a sinking fund, if any, and the provisions for redemption, if applicable, of the preferred shares being offered;



•

the liquidation preference per share;



•

the terms and conditions, if applicable, upon which the preferred shares being offered will be convertible into our common shares, including the conversion price, or the manner of calculating the conversion price, and the conversion period;



•

the terms and conditions, if applicable, upon which the preferred shares being offered will be exchangeable for debt securities, including the exchange price, or the manner of calculating the exchange price, and the exchange period;

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•

any listing of the preferred shares being offered on any securities exchange;



•

whether interests in the shares of the series will be represented by depositary shares;



•

a discussion of any material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to the preferred shares being offered;



•

the relative ranking and preferences of the preferred shares being offered as to dividend rights and rights upon liquidation, dissolution or the winding up of our affairs;



•

any limitations on the issuance of any class or series of preferred shares ranking senior or equal to the series of preferred shares being offered as to dividend rights and rights upon liquidation, dissolution or the winding up of our affairs;



•

information with respect to book-entry procedures, if any; and



•

any additional rights, preferences, qualifications, limitations and restrictions of the series.

        The description of preferred shares above and the description of the terms of a particular series of preferred shares in the prospectus supplement are not complete. You should refer to the applicable articles supplementary for complete information.

        Our board could authorize, without shareholder approval, the issuance of preferred shares with terms and conditions that could have the effect of discouraging a takeover or other transaction in which holders of some or a majority of our shares might receive a premium for their shares over the then-prevailing market price of our shares. We currently do not expect that the board would require shareholder approval prior to such a preferred issuance. In addition, any preferred shares that we issue would rank senior to our common shares with respect to the payment of distributions, in which case we could not pay any distributions on our common shares until full distributions have been paid with respect to such preferred shares.

Power to Reclassify Shares and Issue Additional Common Shares or Preferred Shares

        Our declaration of trust authorizes our board of trustees to classify any authorized but unissued common and preferred shares and to reclassify any previously classified but unissued common shares and preferred shares of any series from time to time in one or more series, as authorized by the board of trustees. Prior to issuance of shares of each class or series, the board of trustees is required by the Maryland REIT law and our declaration of trust to establish for each such class or series, subject to the provisions of our declaration of trust regarding the restrictions on transfer of shares of beneficial interest, the terms, preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications and terms or conditions of redemption for each such class or series. As a result, our board of trustees could authorize the issuance of preferred shares that have priority over the common shares with respect to dividends, distributions and rights upon liquidation and with other terms and conditions that could have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for holders of common shares or otherwise might be in their best interest.

        To permit us increased flexibility in structuring possible future financings and acquisitions and in meeting other needs that might arise, our declaration of trust allows us to issue additional common shares or preferred shares and to classify or reclassify unissued common shares or preferred shares and thereafter to issue the classified or reclassified shares without shareholder approval, unless shareholder approval is required by applicable law or the rules of any stock exchange or automated quotation system on which our securities may be listed or traded. Although we have no present intention of doing so, we could issue a class or series of shares that could delay, deter or prevent a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for holders of common shares or might otherwise be in their best interests.

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        Holders of our common shares do not have preemptive rights, which means they have no right to acquire any additional shares that we may issue at a subsequent date.

Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer

        In order to qualify as a REIT under the Code, our shares must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months or during a proportionate part of a shorter taxable year. Also, no more than 50% of the value of our outstanding shares (after taking into account options to acquire shares) may be owned, directly, indirectly or through attribution, by five or fewer individuals (as defined in the Code to include certain entities).

        Because our board of trustees believes that it is in our shareholders' best interests to continue to qualify as a REIT and for anti-takeover and other strategic reasons, our declaration of trust, subject to certain exceptions, contains restrictions on the number of our shares of beneficial interest that a person may own. Our declaration of trust provides that:

•

no person, other than an excepted holder or a designated investment entity (each as defined in our declaration of trust), may own directly, or be deemed to own by virtue of the attribution provisions of the Code, more than 5%, in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of the issued and outstanding shares of any class or series of common shares;



•

no person may own directly or indirectly, or be deemed to own through attribution, more than 9.8% in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of the issued and outstanding shares of any class or series of preferred shares;



•

no excepted holder, which means certain members of the Amsdell family, certain trusts established for the benefit of members of the Amsdell family and certain related entities, may own directly or indirectly common shares if, under the applicable tax attribution rules of the Code, any single excepted holder who is treated as an individual would own more than 29%, in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of our outstanding common shares, any two excepted holders treated as individuals would own more than 34%, in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of our outstanding common shares, any three excepted holders treated as individuals would own more than 39%, in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of our outstanding common shares, any four excepted holders treated as individuals would own more than 44%, in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of our outstanding common shares, or any five excepted holders treated as individuals would own more than 49%, in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of our outstanding common shares;



•

no designated investment entity may acquire or hold, directly or indirectly (or through attribution), shares in excess of the designated investment entity limit of 9.8%, in value or number of shares, whichever is more restrictive, of the outstanding shares of any class or series of common shares;



•

no person shall beneficially or constructively own our shares of beneficial interest that would result in us being "closely held" under Section 856(h) of the Code or otherwise cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT; and



•

no person shall transfer our shares of beneficial interest if such transfer would result in our shares of beneficial interest being owned by fewer than 100 persons.

        The excepted holder limit was established in light of the fact that Robert J. Amsdell, Barry L. Amsdell, Todd C. Amsdell and certain Amsdell Entities owned a substantial percentage of our common shares upon completion of our IPO. The excepted holder limit does not permit each excepted holder to own 29% of our common shares. Rather, the excepted holder limit prevents two or more excepted holders who are each treated as individuals under the applicable tax attribution rules from owning a

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higher percentage of our common shares than the maximum number of common shares that could be owned by any one excepted holder (29%), plus the maximum number of common shares that could be owned by any one or more other individual common shareholders who are not excepted holders (5%). We do not believe the 29% expected holder limit for certain members of the Amsdell family and certain related entities will jeopardize our REIT status because no other individual shareholder can own more than 5% of the value of our outstanding common shares. Accordingly, no five individuals can own more than 49% of our shares and, thus, we will be in compliance with the REIT qualification requirement prohibiting five or fewer individuals from owning more than 50% of the value of our outstanding shares.

        The declaration of trust defines a "designated investment entity" as:

1.

an entity that is a pension trust that qualifies for look-through treatment under Section 856(h)(3) of the Code;



2.

an entity that qualifies as a regulated investment company under Section 851 of the Code; or



3.

an entity that (i) for compensation engages in the business of advising others as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing or selling securities; (ii) purchases securities in the ordinary course of its business and not with the purpose or effect of changing or influencing control of us, nor in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having such purpose or effect, including any transaction subject to Rule 13d-3(b) of the Exchange Act; and (iii) has or shares voting power and investment power under the Exchange Act;

so long as each beneficial owner of such entity, or in the case of an asset management company, the individual account holders of the accounts managed by such entity, would satisfy the 5% ownership limit if such beneficial owner or account holder owned directly its proportionate share of the shares held by the entity.

        Our board of trustees may waive the 5% ownership limit, or the 9.8% designated investment entity limit, for a shareholder that is not an individual if such shareholder provides information and makes representations to the board that are satisfactory to the board, in its reasonable discretion, to establish that such person's ownership in excess of the 5% limit or the 9.8% limit, as applicable, would not jeopardize our qualification as a REIT.

        Any person who acquires or attempts or intends to acquire beneficial or constructive ownership of our shares that will or may violate any of the foregoing restrictions on transferability and ownership will be required to give notice immediately to us and provide us with such other information as we may request in order to determine the effect of such transfer on our status as a REIT. If any transfer of shares or any other event would otherwise result in any person violating the ownership limits described above, then our declaration of trust provides that (a) the transfer will be void and of no force or effect with respect to the prohibited transferee with respect to that number of shares that exceeds the ownership limits or that such number of shares will be automatically transferred to a charitable trust for the benefit of a charitable beneficiary and (b) the prohibited transferee would not acquire any right or interest in the shares. The foregoing restrictions on transferability and ownership will not apply if our board of trustees determines that it is no longer in our best interests to attempt to qualify, or to continue to qualify, as a REIT.

        All certificates evidencing our shares bear a legend referring to the restrictions described above.

        Every owner of more than 5% (or such lower percentage as required by the Code or the regulations promulgated thereunder) of all classes or series of our shares, including common shares, is required to give written notice to us within 30 days after the end of each taxable year stating the name and address of such owner, the number of shares of each class and series of shares that the owner beneficially owns and a description of the manner in which such shares are held. Each such owner shall

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provide to us such additional information as we may request in order to determine the effect, if any, of such beneficial ownership on our status as a REIT and to ensure compliance with the ownership limitations. In addition, each shareholder shall upon demand be required to provide to us such information as we may request, in good faith, in order to determine our status as a REIT and to comply with the requirements of any taxing authority or governmental authority or to determine such compliance.

        These ownership limitations could delay, deter or prevent a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for the common shares or might otherwise be in the best interest of our shareholders.

Transfer Agent and Registrar

        The transfer agent and registrar for our common shares is American Stock Transfer & Trust Co., LLC. The transfer agent and registrar for our preferred shares will be set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement.

Certain Provisions Of Maryland Law And Our Declaration Of Trust And Bylaws

        The following description of certain provisions of Maryland law and of our declaration of trust and bylaws is only a summary. For a complete description, we refer you to the applicable Maryland law, our declaration of trust and bylaws.

Number of Trustees; Vacancies

        Our declaration of trust and bylaws provide that the number of our trustees shall not be less than one and not more than 13, and will be established by a vote of a majority of the members of our board of trustees. Our bylaws provide that any vacancy, including a vacancy created by an increase in the number of trustees, may be filled only by a majority of the remaining trustees, even if the remaining trustees do not constitute a quorum. Pursuant to our declaration of trust, each of our trustees is elected by our shareholders to serve until the next annual meeting and until their successors are duly elected and qualify. Under Maryland law, our board may elect to create staggered terms for its members.

        Our bylaws provide that at least a majority of our trustees will be "independent," with independence being defined in the manner established by our board of trustees and in a manner consistent with listing standards established by the NYSE.

Removal of Trustees

        Our declaration of trust provides that a trustee may be removed only with cause and only upon the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast in the election of trustees. Absent removal of all of our trustees, this provision, when coupled with the provision in our bylaws authorizing our board of trustees to fill vacant trusteeships, may preclude shareholders from removing incumbent trustees and filling the vacancies created by such removal with their own nominees.

Business Combinations

        Our board of trustees has approved a resolution that exempts us from the provisions of the Maryland business combination statute described below, but our board of trustees may opt to make these provisions applicable to us in the future. Maryland law prohibits "business combinations" between us and an interested shareholder (defined below) or an affiliate of an interested shareholder for five years after the most recent date on which the interested shareholder becomes an interested shareholder. These business combinations include a merger, consolidation, share exchange, or, in

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circumstances specified in the statute, an asset transfer or issuance or reclassification of equity securities. Maryland law defines an interested shareholder as:

•

any person who beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting power of our shares; or



•

an affiliate or associate of ours who, at any time within the two-year period prior to the date in question, was the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the voting power of our then outstanding voting shares.

A person is not an interested shareholder if our board of trustees approves in advance the transaction by which the person otherwise would have become an interested shareholder. However, in approving a transaction, our board of trustees may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by our board of trustees.

        After the five-year prohibition, any business combination between us and an interested shareholder generally must be recommended by our board of trustees and approved by the affirmative vote of at least:

•

80% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of our then outstanding shares of beneficial interest; and



•

two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of our voting shares other than shares held by the interested shareholder with whom or with whose affiliate the business combination is to be effected or shares held by an affiliate or associate of the interested shareholder.

These super-majority vote requirements do not apply if our common shareholders receive a minimum price, as described under Maryland law, for their shares in the form of cash or other consideration in the same form as previously paid by the interested shareholder for its shares.

        The statute permits various exemptions from its provisions, including business combinations that are approved by our board of trustees before the time that the interested shareholder becomes an interested shareholder.

Control Share Acquisitions

        Our bylaws contain a provision exempting any and all acquisitions of our shares from the provisions of the Maryland Control Share Acquisition Act. However, our board of trustees may opt to make these provisions applicable to an acquisition of our shares at any time by amending or repealing this provision in the future, and may do so on a retroactive basis. Maryland law provides that "control shares" of a Maryland REIT acquired in a "control share acquisition" have no voting rights unless approved by a vote of two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. Shares beneficially owned by the acquiring person in a control share acquisition or by our officers or by our employees who are our trustees are excluded from the shares entitled to vote in accordance with the immediately preceding sentence. "Control shares" are shares that, if aggregated with all other shares previously acquired by the acquiring person, or in respect of which the acquiring person is able to exercise or direct the exercise of voting power (except solely by virtue of a revocable proxy), would entitle the acquiring person to exercise or direct the exercise of the voting power in electing trustees within one of the following ranges of voting power:

•

one-tenth or more but less than one-third;



•

one-third or more but less than a majority; or



•

a majority or more of all voting power.

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        Control shares do not include shares the acquiring person is then entitled to vote as a result of having previously obtained shareholder approval. A "control share acquisition" means the acquisition of control shares, subject to certain exceptions.

        A person who has made or proposes to make a control share acquisition may compel our board of trustees to call a special meeting of shareholders to be held within 50 days of demand to consider the voting rights of the shares. The right to compel the calling of a special meeting is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including an undertaking to pay the expenses of the special meeting. If no request for a special meeting is made, we may present the question at any shareholders' meeting.

        If voting rights are not approved at the shareholders' meeting or if the acquiring person does not deliver the statement required by Maryland law, then, subject to certain conditions and limitations, we may redeem any or all of the control shares, except those for which voting rights have previously been approved, for fair value. Fair value is determined without regard to the absence of voting rights for the control shares and as of the date of the last control share acquisition or of any meeting of shareholders at which the voting rights of the shares were considered and not approved. If voting rights for control shares are approved at a shareholders' meeting, the acquiror may then vote a majority of the shares entitled to vote, and all other shareholders may exercise appraisal rights. The fair value of the shares for purposes of these appraisal rights may not be less than the highest price per share paid by the acquiror in the control share acquisition. The control share acquisition statute does not apply to shares acquired in a merger, consolidation or share exchange if we are a party to the transaction, nor does it apply to acquisitions approved by or exempted by our declaration of trust or bylaws.

Possible Anti-Takeover Effect of Certain Provisions of Maryland Law, Our Declaration of Trust and Bylaws

        The business combination provisions of Maryland law (if our board of trustees opts to make them applicable to us), the control share acquisition provisions of Maryland law (if the applicable provision in our bylaws is rescinded), the limitations on removal of trustees, the restrictions on the acquisition of our shares of beneficial interest, the power to issue additional common shares or preferred shares and the advance notice provisions for shareholder trustee nominations and other shareholder proposals of our bylaws could have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for holders of the common shares or might otherwise be in their best interest. The "unsolicited takeovers" provisions of Maryland law permit our board of trustees, without shareholder approval and regardless of what is provided in our declaration of trust or bylaws, to implement takeover defenses that we may not yet have.

DESCRIPTION OF DEBT SECURITIES

        The following description, together with the additional information we include in any applicable prospectus supplements, summarizes the material terms and provisions of the debt securities that we may offer under this prospectus. While the terms we have summarized below will apply generally to any future debt securities we may offer, we will describe the particular terms of any debt securities that we may offer in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement. If we indicate in a prospectus supplement, the terms of any debt securities we offer under that prospectus supplement may differ from the terms we describe below.

        The debt securities will be our direct unsecured general obligations and may include debentures, notes, bonds and/or other evidences of indebtedness. The debt securities will be issued under one or more indentures. The indenture will be qualified under the Trust Indenture Act.

        The following summaries of material provisions of the debt securities and indentures are subject to, and qualified in their entirety by reference to, all the provisions of the indenture applicable to a particular series of debt securities.

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General

        We will describe in each prospectus supplement the following terms relating to a series of debt securities:

•

the title of the debt securities and whether the debt securities are senior debt securities or subordinated debt securities;



•

any limit on the amount that may be issued;



•

whether or not we will issue the series of debt securities in global form, the terms and who the depository will be;



•

the maturity date;



•

the annual interest rate, which may be fixed or variable, or the method for determining the rate and the date interest will begin to accrue, the dates interest will be payable and the regular record dates for interest payment dates or the method for determining such dates;



•

whether or not the debt securities will be secured or unsecured, and the terms of any secured debt;



•

the terms of the subordination of any series of subordinated debt;



•

the place where payments will be payable;



•

our right, if any, to defer payment of interest and the maximum length of any such deferral period;



•

the date, if any, after which, and the price at which, we may, at our option, redeem the series of debt securities pursuant to any optional redemption provisions;



•

the date, if any, on which, and the price at which we are obligated, pursuant to any mandatory sinking fund provisions or otherwise, to redeem, or at the holder's option to purchase, the series of debt securities;



•

whether the indenture will restrict our ability to pay dividends, or will require us to maintain any asset ratios or reserves;



•

whether we will be restricted from incurring any additional indebtedness;



•

a discussion on any material or special U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to the debt securities;



•

the denominations in which we will issue the series of debt securities, if other than denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof; and



•

any other specific terms, preferences, rights or limitations of, or restrictions on, the debt securities.

Conversion or Exchange Rights

        We will set forth in the prospectus supplement the terms on which a series of debt securities may be convertible into or exchangeable for common shares or other securities of ours. We will include provisions as to whether conversion or exchange is mandatory, at the option of the holder or at our option. We may include provisions pursuant to which the number of common shares or other securities of ours that the holders of the series of debt securities receive would be subject to adjustment.

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Consolidation, Merger or Sale

        The indentures do not contain any covenant which restricts our ability to merge or consolidate, or sell, convey, transfer or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets. However, any successor to or acquirer of such assets must assume all of our obligations under the indentures or the debt securities, as appropriate.

Events of Default Under the Indenture

        The following are events of default under the indenture with respect to any series of debt securities that we may issue:

•

if we fail to pay interest when due and our failure continues for a number of days to be stated in the indenture and the time for payment has not been extended or deferred;



•

if we fail to pay the principal, or premium, if any, when due and the time for payment has not been extended or delayed;



•

if we fail to observe or perform any other covenant contained in the debt securities or the indentures, other than a covenant specifically relating to another series of debt securities, and our failure continues for a number of days to be stated in the indenture after we receive notice from the debenture trustee or holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of the applicable series; and



•

if specified events of bankruptcy, insolvency or reorganization occur as to us.

        If an event of default with respect to debt securities of any series occurs and is continuing, the debenture trustee or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series, by notice to us in writing, and to the debenture trustee if notice is given by such holders, may declare the unpaid principal of, premium, if any, and accrued interest, if any, due and payable immediately.

        The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of an affected series may waive any default or event of default with respect to the series and its consequences, except defaults or events of default regarding payment of principal, premium, if any, or interest, unless we have cured the default or event of default in accordance with the indenture. Any waiver shall cure the default or event of default.

        Subject to the terms of the indenture, if an event of default under an indenture shall occur and be continuing, the debenture trustee will be under no obligation to exercise any of its rights or powers under such indenture at the request or direction of any of the holders of the applicable series of debt securities, unless such holders have offered the debenture trustee reasonable indemnity. The holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of any series will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the debenture trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred on the debenture trustee, with respect to the debt securities of that series, provided that:

•

the direction so given by the holder is not in conflict with any law or the applicable indenture; and



•

subject to its duties under the Trust Indenture Act, the debenture trustee need not take any action that might involve it in personal liability or might be unduly prejudicial to the holders not involved in the proceeding.

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        A holder of the debt securities of any series will only have the right to institute a proceeding under the indenture or to appoint a receiver or trustee, or to seek other remedies if:

•

the holder has given written notice to the debenture trustee of a continuing event of default with respect to that series;



•

the holders of at least 25% in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series have made written request, and such holders have offered reasonable indemnity to the debenture trustee to institute the proceeding as trustee; and



•

the debenture trustee does not institute the proceeding, and does not receive from the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of that series other conflicting directions within 60 days after the notice, request and offer.

        These limitations do not apply to a suit instituted by a holder of debt securities if we default in the payment of the principal, premium, if any, or interest on, the debt securities.

        We will periodically file statements with the debenture trustee regarding our compliance with specified covenants in the indentures.

Modification of Indenture; Waiver

        We and the debenture trustee may change an indenture without the consent of any holders with respect to specific matters, including:

•

to fix any ambiguity, defect or inconsistency in the indenture; and



•

to change anything that does not materially adversely affect the interests of any holder of debt securities of any series.

        In addition, under the indenture, the rights of holders of a series of debt securities may be changed by us and the debenture trustee with the written consent of the holders of at least a majority in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding debt securities of each series that is affected. However, we and the debenture trustee may only make the following changes with the consent of each holder of any outstanding debt securities affected:

•

extending the fixed maturity of the series of debt securities;



•

reducing the principal amount, reducing the rate of or extending the time of payment of interest, or any premium payable upon the redemption of any debt securities; or



•

reducing the percentage of debt securities, the holders of which are required to consent to any amendment.

Discharge

        Each indenture provides that we can elect to be discharged from our obligations with respect to one or more series of debt securities, except for obligations to:

•

register the transfer or exchange of debt securities of the series;



•

replace stolen, lost or mutilated debt securities of the series;



•

maintain paying agencies;



•

hold monies for payment in trust;



•

compensate and indemnify the trustee; and



•

appoint any successor trustee.

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        In order to exercise our rights to be discharged, we must deposit with the trustee money or government obligations sufficient to pay all the principal of, any premium, if any, and interest on, the debt securities of the series on the dates payments are due.

Form, Exchange and Transfer

        We will issue the debt securities of each series only in fully registered form without coupons and, unless we otherwise specify in the applicable prospectus supplement, in denominations of $1,000 and any integral multiple thereof. The indenture provides that we may issue debt securities of a series in temporary or permanent global form and as book-entry securities that will be deposited with, or on behalf of, The Depository Trust Company or another depository named by us and identified in a prospectus supplement with respect to that series. See "Legal Ownership of the Securities" for a further description of the terms relating to any book-entry securities.

        At the option of the holder, subject to the terms of the indenture and the limitations applicable to global securities described in the applicable prospectus supplement, the holder of the debt securities of any series can exchange the debt securities for other debt securities of the same series, in any authorized denomination and of like tenor and aggregate principal amount.

        Subject to the terms of the indenture and the limitations applicable to global securities set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement, holders of the debt securities may present the debt securities for exchange or for registration of transfer, duly endorsed or with the form of transfer endorsed thereon duly executed if so required by us or the security registrar, at the office of the security registrar or at the office of any transfer agent designated by us for this purpose. Unless otherwise provided in the debt securities that the holder presents for transfer or exchange, we will make no service charge for any registration of transfer or exchange, but we may require payment of any taxes or other governmental charges.

        We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement the security registrar, and any transfer agent in addition to the security registrar, that we initially designate for any debt securities. We may at any time designate additional transfer agents or rescind the designation of any transfer agent or approve a change in the office through which any transfer agent acts, except that we will be required to maintain a transfer agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of each series.

        If we elect to redeem the debt securities of any series, we will not be required to:

•

issue, register the transfer of, or exchange any debt securities of that series during a period beginning at the opening of business 15 days before the day of mailing of a notice of redemption of any debt securities that may be selected for redemption and ending at the close of business on the day of the mailing; or



•

register the transfer of or exchange any debt securities so selected for redemption, in whole or in part, except the unredeemed portion of any debt securities we are redeeming in part.

Information Concerning the Debenture Trustee

        The debenture trustee, other than during the occurrence and continuance of an event of default under an indenture, undertakes to perform only those duties as are specifically set forth in the applicable indenture. Upon an event of default under an indenture, the debenture trustee must use the same degree of care as a prudent person would exercise or use in the conduct of his or her own affairs. Subject to this provision, the debenture trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers given it by the indentures at the request of any holder of debt securities unless it is offered reasonable security and indemnity against the costs, expenses and liabilities that it might incur.

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Payment and Paying Agents

        Unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will make payment of the interest on any debt securities on any interest payment date to the person in whose name the debt securities, or one or more predecessor securities, are registered at the close of business on the regular record date for the interest.

        We will pay principal of and any premium and interest on the debt securities of a particular series at the office of the paying agents designated by us, except that unless we otherwise indicate in the applicable prospectus supplement, we will make interest payments by check which we will mail to the holder. Unless we otherwise indicate in a prospectus supplement, we will designate the corporate trust office of the debenture trustee in the City of New York as our sole paying agent for payments with respect to debt securities of each series. We will name in the applicable prospectus supplement any other paying agents that we initially designate for the debt securities of a particular series. We will maintain a paying agent in each place of payment for the debt securities of a particular series.

        All money we pay to a paying agent or the debenture trustee for the payment of the principal of or any premium or interest on any debt securities which remains unclaimed at the end of two years after such principal, premium or interest has become due and payable will be repaid to us, and the holder of the security thereafter may look only to us for payment thereof.

Governing Law

        The indentures and the debt securities will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, except to the extent that the Trust Indenture Act is applicable.

Subordination of Subordinated Notes

        The subordinated notes will be unsecured and will be subordinate and junior in priority of payment to certain of our other indebtedness to the extent described in a prospectus supplement. The subordinated indenture does not limit the amount of subordinated notes which we may issue. It also does not limit us from issuing any other secured or unsecured debt.

DESCRIPTION OF DEPOSITARY SHARES

General

        We may elect to have shares of preferred shares represented by depositary shares. The shares of any series of the preferred shares underlying the depositary shares will be deposited under a separate deposit agreement between us and a bank or trust company that we select. The prospectus supplement relating to a series of depositary shares will set forth the name and address of this preferred shares depositary. Subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, each owner of a depositary share will be entitled, proportionately, to all the rights, preferences and privileges of the preferred shares represented by such depositary share, including dividend, voting, redemption, conversion, exchange and liquidation rights. As of the date of this prospectus, there are no depositary shares outstanding.

        The depositary shares will be evidenced by depositary receipts issued pursuant to the deposit agreement, each of which will represent the applicable interest in a number of shares of a particular series of the preferred shares described in the applicable prospectus supplement.

        A holder of depositary shares will be entitled to receive the shares of preferred shares, but only in whole shares of preferred shares, underlying those depositary shares. If the depositary receipts delivered by the holder evidence a number of depositary shares in excess of the whole number of shares of preferred shares to be withdrawn, the depositary will deliver to that holder at the same time a new depositary receipt for the excess number of depositary shares.

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Dividends and Other Distributions

        The preferred shares depositary will distribute all cash dividends or other cash distributions in respect of the series of preferred shares represented by the depositary shares to the record holders of depositary receipts in proportion, to the extent possible, to the number of depositary shares owned by those holders. The depositary, however, will distribute only the amount that can be distributed without attributing to any depositary share a fraction of one cent, and any undistributed balance will be added to and treated as part of the next sum received by the depositary for distribution to record holders of depositary receipts then outstanding.

        If there is a distribution other than in cash in respect of the preferred shares, the preferred shares depositary will distribute property received by it to the record holders of depositary receipts in proportion, insofar as possible, to the number of depositary shares owned by those holders, unless the preferred shares depositary determines that it is not feasible to make such a distribution. In that case, the preferred shares depositary may, with our approval, adopt any method that it deems equitable and practicable to effect the distribution, including a public or private sale of the property and distribution of the net proceeds from the sale to the holders.

        The amount distributed in any of the above cases will be reduced by any amount we or the preferred shares depositary are required to withhold on account of taxes.

Conversion and Exchange

        If any series of preferred shares underlying the depositary shares is subject to provisions relating to its conversion or exchange as set forth in an applicable prospectus supplement, each record holder of depositary receipts will have the right or obligation to convert or exchange the depositary shares evidenced by the depositary receipts pursuant to those provisions.

Redemption of Depositary Shares

        If any series of preferred shares underlying the depositary shares is subject to redemption, the depositary shares will be redeemed from the proceeds received by the preferred shares depositary resulting from the redemption, in whole or in part, of the preferred shares held by the preferred shares depositary. Whenever we redeem a share of preferred shares held by the preferred shares depositary, the preferred shares depositary will redeem as of the same redemption date a proportionate number of depositary shares representing the shares of preferred shares that were redeemed. The redemption price per depositary share will be equal to the aggregate redemption price payable with respect to the number of shares of preferred shares underlying the depositary shares. If fewer than all the depositary shares are to be redeemed, the depositary shares to be redeemed will be selected by lot or proportionately as we may determine.

        After the date fixed for redemption, the depositary shares called for redemption will no longer be deemed to be outstanding and all rights of the holders of the depositary shares will cease, except the right to receive the redemption price. Any funds that we deposit with the preferred shares depositary relating to depositary shares which are not redeemed by the holders of the depositary shares will be returned to us after a period of two years from the date the funds are deposited by us.

Voting

        Upon receipt of notice of any meeting at which the holders of any shares of preferred shares underlying the depositary shares are entitled to vote, the preferred shares depositary will mail the information contained in the notice to the record holders of the depositary receipts. Each record holder of the depositary receipts on the record date, which will be the same date as the record date for the preferred shares, may then instruct the preferred shares depositary as to the exercise of the voting

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rights pertaining to the number of shares of preferred shares underlying that holder's depositary shares. The preferred shares depositary will try to vote the number of shares of preferred shares underlying the depositary shares in accordance with the instructions, and we will agree to take all reasonable action which the preferred shares depositary deems necessary to enable the preferred shares depositary to do so. The preferred shares depositary will abstain from voting the preferred shares to the extent that it does not receive specific written instructions from holders of depositary receipts representing the preferred shares.

Record Date

        Subject to the provisions of the deposit agreement, whenever

•

any cash dividend or other cash distribution becomes payable,



•

any distribution other than cash is made,



•

any rights, preferences or privileges are offered with respect to the preferred shares,



•

the preferred shares depositary receives notice of any meeting at which holders of preferred shares are entitled to vote or of which holders of preferred shares are entitled to notice, or



•

the preferred shares depositary receives notice of the mandatory conversion of or any election by us to call for the redemption of any preferred shares,

the preferred shares depositary will in each instance fix a record date, which will be the same as the record date for the preferred shares, for the determination of the holders of depositary receipts:

•

who will be entitled to receive dividend, distribution, rights, preferences or privileges or the net proceeds of any sale, or



•

who will be entitled to give instructions for the exercise of voting rights at any such meeting or to receive notice of the meeting or the redemption or conversion.

Withdrawal of Preferred Shares

        Upon surrender of depositary receipts at the principal office of the preferred shares depositary, upon payment of any unpaid amount due the preferred shares depositary, and subject to the terms of the deposit agreement, the owner of the depositary shares evidenced by the depositary receipts is entitled to delivery of the number of whole shares of preferred shares and all money and other property, if any, represented by the depositary shares. Partial shares of preferred shares will not be issued. If the depositary receipts delivered by the holder evidence a number of depositary shares in excess of the number of depositary shares representing the number of whole shares of preferred shares to be withdrawn, the preferred shares depositary will deliver to the holder at the same time a new depositary receipt evidencing the excess number of depositary shares. Holders of preferred shares that are withdrawn will not be entitled to deposit the shares that have been withdrawn under the deposit agreement or to receive depositary receipts.

Amendment and Termination of the Deposit Agreement

        We and the preferred shares depositary may at any time agree to amend the form of depositary receipt and any provision of the deposit agreement. However, any amendment that materially and adversely alters the rights of holders of depositary shares will not be effective unless the amendment has been approved by the holders of at least a majority of the depositary shares then outstanding. The deposit agreement may be terminated by us or by the preferred shares depositary only if all outstanding shares have been redeemed or if a final distribution in respect of the underlying preferred shares has

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been made to the holders of the depositary shares in connection with our liquidation, dissolution or winding up.

Charges of Preferred Shares Depositary

        We will pay all charges of the preferred shares depositary including charges in connection with the initial deposit of the preferred shares, the initial issuance of the depositary receipts, the distribution of information to the holders of depositary receipts with respect to matters on which preference shares is entitled to vote, withdrawals of the preferred shares by the holders of depositary receipts or redemption or conversion of the preferred shares, except for taxes (including transfer taxes, if any) and other governmental charges and any other charges expressly provided in the deposit agreement to be at the expense of holders of depositary receipts or persons depositing preferred shares.

Miscellaneous

        Neither we nor the preferred shares depositary will be liable if either of us is prevented or delayed by law or any circumstance beyond our control in performing any obligations under the deposit agreement. The obligations of the preferred shares depositary under the deposit agreement are limited to performing its duties under the agreement without negligence or bad faith. Our obligations under the deposit agreement are limited to performing our duties in good faith. Neither we nor the preferred shares depositary is obligated to prosecute or defend any legal proceeding in respect of any depositary shares or preferred shares unless satisfactory indemnity is furnished. We and the preferred shares depositary may rely on advice of or information from counsel, accountants or other persons that they believe to be competent and on documents that they believe to be genuine.

        The preferred shares depositary may resign at any time or be removed by us, effective upon the acceptance by its successor of its appointment. If we have not appointed a successor preferred shares depositary and the successor depositary has not accepted its appointment within 60 days after the preferred shares depositary delivered a resignation notice to us, the preferred shares depositary may terminate the deposit agreement. See "—Amendment and Termination of the Deposit Agreement" above.

DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS

        We may issue warrants for the purchase of common shares, preferred shares, debt securities or depositary shares. We may issue warrants independently or together with any offered securities. The warrants may be attached to or separate from those offered securities. We will issue the warrants under one or more warrant agreements to be entered into between us and a warrant agent to be named in the applicable prospectus supplement. The warrant agent will act solely as our agent in connection with the warrants and will not assume any obligation or relationship of agency or trust for or with any holders or beneficial owners of warrants.

        The prospectus supplement relating to any warrants that we may offer will contain the specific terms of the warrants. These terms may include the following:

•

the title of the warrants;



•

the price or prices at which the warrants will be issued;



•

the designation, amount and terms of the securities for which the warrants are exercisable;



•

the designation and terms of the other securities, if any, with which the warrants are to be issued and the number of warrants issued with each other security;



•

the aggregate number of warrants;

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•

any provisions for adjustment of the number or amount of securities receivable upon exercise of the warrants or the exercise price of the warrants;



•

the price or prices at which the securities purchasable upon exercise of the warrants may be purchased;



•

if applicable, the date on and after which the warrants and the securities purchasable upon exercise of the warrants will be separately transferable;



•

a discussion of any material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to the exercise of the warrants;



•

the date on which the right to exercise the warrants will commence, and the date on which the right will expire;



•

the maximum or minimum number of warrants that may be exercised at any time;



•

information with respect to book-entry procedures, if any; and



•

any other terms of the warrants, including terms, procedures and limitations relating to the exchange and exercise of the warrants.

Exercise of Warrants

        Each warrant will entitle the holder of the warrant to purchase for cash the amount of common shares, preferred shares, debt securities or depositary shares at the exercise price stated or determinable in the applicable prospectus supplement for the warrants. Warrants may be exercised at any time up to the close of business on the expiration date shown in the applicable prospectus supplement, unless otherwise specified in such prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, unexercised warrants will become void. Warrants may be exercised as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. When the warrant holder makes the payment and properly completes and signs the warrant certificate at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent or any other office indicated in the prospectus supplement, we will, as soon as possible, forward the common shares, preferred shares, debt securities or depositary shares that the warrant holder has purchased. If the warrant holder exercises the warrant for less than all of the warrants represented by the warrant certificate, we will issue a new warrant certificate for the remaining warrants.

        The description in the applicable prospectus supplement of any warrants we offer will not necessarily be complete and will be qualified in its entirety by reference to the applicable warrant agreement and warrant certificate, which will be filed with the SEC if we offer warrants. For more information on how you can obtain copies of any warrant certificate or warrant agreement if we offer warrants, see "Where You Can Find More Information." We urge you to read the applicable warrant certificate, the applicable warrant agreement and any applicable prospectus supplement in their entirety.

DESCRIPTION OF SUBSCRIPTION RIGHTS

        We may issue subscription rights to purchase common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, depository shares or other securities. We may issue subscription rights independently or together with any other offered security, which may or may not be transferable by the shareholder. In connection with any offering of subscription rights, we may enter into a standby arrangement with one or more underwriters or other purchasers pursuant to which the underwriters or other purchasers may be required to purchase any securities remaining unsubscribed for after such offering.

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        The prospectus supplement relating to any subscription rights we may offer will contain the specific terms of the subscription rights. These terms may include the following:

•

the price, if any, for the subscription rights;



•

the exercise price payable for common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, depositary shares or other securities upon the exercise of the subscription rights;



•

the number of subscription rights issued to each security holder;



•

the number and terms of the common shares, preferred shares, debt securities, depository shares or other securities which may be purchased per each subscription right;



•

the extent to which the subscription rights are transferable;



•

any provisions for adjustment of the number or amount of securities receivable upon exercise of the subscription rights or the exercise price of the subscription rights;



•

any other terms of the subscription rights, including the terms, procedures and limitations relating to the exchange and exercise of the subscription rights;



•

the date on which the right to exercise the subscription rights shall commence, and the date on which the subscription rights shall expire;



•

the extent to which the subscription rights may include an over-subscription privilege with respect to unsubscribed securities; and



•

if applicable, the material terms of any standby underwriting or purchase arrangement entered into by us in connection with the offering of subscription rights.

        The description in the applicable prospectus supplement of any subscription rights we offer will not necessarily be complete and will be qualified in its entirety by reference to the applicable subscription rights certificate or subscription rights agreement, which will be filed with the SEC if we offer subscription rights. For more information on how you can obtain copies of any subscription rights certificate or subscription rights agreement if we offer subscription rights, see "Where You Can Find More Information." We urge you to read the applicable subscription rights certificate, the applicable subscription rights agreement and any applicable prospectus supplement in their entirety.

LEGAL OWNERSHIP OF THE SECURITIES

        We can issue securities in registered form or in the form of one or more global securities. We describe global securities in greater detail below. We refer to those persons who have securities registered in their own names on the books that we or any applicable trustee maintain for this purpose as the "holders" of those securities. These persons are the legal holders of the securities. We refer to those persons who, indirectly through others, own beneficial interests in securities that are not registered in their own names, as "indirect holders" of those securities. As we discuss below, indirect holders are not legal holders, and investors in securities issued in book-entry form or in street name will be indirect holders.

Book-Entry Holders

        We may issue securities in book-entry form only, as we will specify in the applicable prospectus supplement. This means securities may be represented by one or more global securities registered in the name of a financial institution that holds them as depositary on behalf of other financial institutions that participate in the depositary's book-entry system. These participating institutions, which are referred to as participants, in turn, hold beneficial interests in the securities on behalf of themselves or their customers.

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        Only the person in whose name a security is registered is recognized as the holder of that security. Securities issued in global form will be registered in the name of the depositary or its participants. Consequently, for securities issued in global form, we will recognize only the depositary as the holder of the securities, and we will make all payments on the securities to the depositary. The depositary passes along the payments it receives to its participants, which in turn pass the payments along to their customers who are the beneficial owners. The depositary and its participants do so under agreements they have made with one another or with their customers; they are not obligated to do so under the terms of the securities.

        As a result, investors in a book-entry security will not own securities directly. Instead, they will own beneficial interests in a global security, through a bank, broker or other financial institution that participates in the depositary's book-entry system or holds an interest through a participant. As long as the securities are issued in global form, investors will be indirect holders, and not holders, of the securities.

Street Name Holders

        We may terminate a global security or issue securities in non-global form. In these cases, investors may choose to hold their securities in their own names or in "street name." Securities held by an investor in street name would be registered in the name of a bank, broker or other financial institution that the investor chooses, and the investor would hold only a beneficial interest in those securities through an account he or she maintains at that institution.

        For securities held in street name, we will recognize only the intermediary banks, brokers and other financial institutions in whose names the securities are registered as the holders of those securities, and we will make all payments on those securities to them. These institutions pass along the payments they receive to their customers who are the beneficial owners, but only because they agree to do so in their customer agreements or because they are legally required to do so. Investors who hold securities in street name will be indirect holders, not holders, of those securities.

Legal Holders

        Our obligations, as well as the obligations of any applicable trustee and of any third parties employed by us or a trustee, run only to the legal holders of the securities. We do not have obligations to investors who hold beneficial interests in global securities, in street name or by any other indirect means. This will be the case whether an investor chooses to be an indirect holder of a security or has no choice because we are issuing the securities only in global form.

        For example, once we make a payment or give a notice to the holder, we have no further responsibility for the payment or notice even if that holder is required, under agreements with depositary participants or customers or by law, to pass it along to the indirect holders but does not do so. Similarly, we may want to obtain the approval of the holders to amend an indenture, to relieve us of the consequences of a default or of our obligation to comply with a particular provision of the indenture or for other purposes. In such an event, we would seek approval only from the holders, and not the indirect holders, of the securities. Whether and how the holders contact the indirect holders is up to the holders.

Special Considerations for Indirect Holders

        If you hold securities through a bank, broker or other financial institution, either in book-entry form or in street name, you should check with your own institution to find out:

•

how it handles securities payments and notices;



•

whether it imposes fees or charges;

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•

how it would handle a request for the holders' consent, if ever required;



•

whether and how you can instruct it to send you securities registered in your own name so you can be a holder, if that is permitted in the future;



•

how it would exercise rights under the securities if there were a default or other event triggering the need for holders to act to protect their interests; and



•

if the securities are in book-entry form, how the depositary's rules and procedures will affect these matters.

Global Securities

        A global security is a security held by a depositary which represents one or any other number of individual securities. Generally, all securities represented by the same global securities will have the same terms.

        Each security issued in book-entry form will be represented by a global security that we deposit with and register in the name of a financial institution or its nominee that we select. The financial institution that we select for this purpose is called the depositary. Unless we specify otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, The Depository Trust Company, known as DTC, will be the depositary for all securities issued in book-entry form.

        A global security may not be transferred to or registered in the name of anyone other than the depositary, its nominee or a successor depositary, unless special termination situations arise. We describe those situations below under "—Special Situations when a Global Security will be Terminated." As a result of these arrangements, the depositary, or its nominee, will be the sole registered owner and holder of all securities represented by a global security, and investors will be permitted to own only beneficial interests in a global security. Beneficial interests must be held by means of an account with a broker, bank or other financial institution that in turn has an account with the depositary or with another institution that does. Thus, an investor whose security is represented by a global security will not be a holder of the security, but only an indirect holder of a beneficial interest in the global security.

        If the prospectus supplement for a particular security indicates that the security will be issued in global form only, then the security will be represented by a global security at all times unless and until the global security is terminated. If termination occurs, we may issue the securities through another book-entry clearing system or decide that the securities may no longer be held through any book-entry clearing system.

Special Considerations for Global Securities

        As an indirect holder, an investor's rights relating to a global security will be governed by the account rules of the investor's financial institution and of the depositary, as well as general laws relating to securities transfers. We do not recognize an indirect holder as a holder of securities and instead deal only with the depositary that holds the global security.

        If securities are issued only in the form of a global security, an investor should be aware of the following:

•

An investor cannot cause the securities to be registered in his or her name, and cannot obtain non-global certificates for his or her interest in the securities, except in the special situations we describe below;



•

An investor will be an indirect holder and must look to his or her own bank or broker for payments on the securities and protection of his or her legal rights relating to the securities;

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•

An investor may not be able to sell interests in the securities to some insurance companies and to other institutions that are required by law to own their securities in non-book-entry form;



•

An investor may not be able to pledge his or her interest in a global security in circumstances where certificates representing the securities must be delivered to the lender or other beneficiary of the pledge in order for the pledge to be effective;



•

The depositary's policies, which may change from time to time, will govern payments, transfers, exchanges and other matters relating to an investor's interest in a global security. We and any applicable trustee have no responsibility for any aspect of the depositary's actions or for its records of ownership interests in a global security. We and the trustee also do not supervise the depositary in any way;



•

The depositary may, and we understand that DTC will, require that those who purchase and sell interests in a global security within its book-entry system use immediately available funds, and your broker or bank may require you to do so as well; and



•

Financial institutions that participate in the depositary's book-entry system, and through which an investor holds its interest in a global security, may also have their own policies affecting payments, notices and other matters relating to the securities. There may be more than one financial intermediary in the chain of ownership for an investor. We do not monitor and are not responsible for the actions of any of those intermediaries.

Special Situations when a Global Security will be Terminated

        In a few special situations described below, the global security will terminate and interests in it will be exchanged for physical certificates representing those interests. After that exchange, the choice of whether to hold securities directly or in street name will be up to the investor. Investors must consult their own banks or brokers to find out how to have their interests in securities transferred to their own name, so that they will be direct holders. We have described the rights of holders and street name investors above.

        The global security will terminate when the following special situations occur:

•

if the depositary notifies us that it is unwilling, unable or no longer qualified to continue as depositary for that global security and we do not appoint another institution to act as depositary within 90 days;



•

if we notify any applicable trustee that we wish to terminate that global security; or



•

if an event of default has occurred with regard to securities represented by that global security and has not been cured or waived.

        The prospectus supplement may also list additional situations for terminating a global security that would apply only to the particular series of securities covered by the prospectus supplement. When a global security terminates, the depositary (not the Company or any applicable trustee), is responsible for deciding the names of the institutions that will be the initial direct holders.

FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSEQUENCES OF OUR STATUS AS A REIT

        This section summarizes the current material federal income tax consequences generally resulting from our election to be taxed as a REIT. A prospectus supplement will contain information about the material federal income tax considerations relating to the ownership and disposition of our securities. As used in this section, the terms "we" and "our" refer solely to U-Store-It Trust and not to our subsidiaries and affiliates which have not elected to be taxed as REITs under the Internal Revenue Code. This discussion is not exhaustive of all possible tax considerations and does not provide a detailed discussion of any state, local or foreign tax considerations.

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        The statements in this section and the opinion of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, described below, are based on the current federal income tax laws governing qualification as a REIT. We cannot assure you that new laws, interpretations of law or court decisions, any of which may take effect retroactively, will not cause any statement in this section to be inaccurate.

        We urge you to consult your own tax advisor regarding the specific tax consequences to you of ownership of our securities and of our election to be taxed as a REIT. Specifically, you should consult your own tax advisor regarding the federal, state, local, foreign, and other tax consequences of such ownership and election, and regarding potential changes in applicable tax laws.

Taxation of Our Company

        We elected to be taxed as a REIT under the federal income tax laws beginning with our short taxable year ended December 31, 2004. We believe that, beginning with such short taxable year, we have been organized and have operated in such a manner as to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code and intend to continue to operate in such a manner. However, no assurances can be given that our beliefs or expectations will be fulfilled, since qualification as a REIT depends on our continuing to satisfy numerous asset, income, stock ownership and distribution tests described below, the satisfaction of which depends, in part, on our operating results.

        The sections of the Internal Revenue Code relating to qualification and operation as a REIT, and the federal income taxation of a REIT, are highly technical and complex. The following discussion sets forth only the material aspects of those sections. This summary is qualified in its entirety by the applicable Internal Revenue Code provisions and the related rules and regulations.

        In the opinion of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, we qualified to be taxed as a REIT for our taxable years ended December 31, 2004 through December 31, 2007 and our organization and current and proposed method of operation will enable us to continue to qualify as a REIT for our taxable year ending December 31, 2008 and in the future. Investors should be aware that Bass, Berry & Sims PLC's opinion is based upon customary assumptions, is conditioned upon certain representations made by us as to factual matters, including representations regarding the nature of our properties and the future conduct of our business, and is not binding upon the Internal Revenue Service or any court and speaks as of the date issued. In addition, Bass, Berry & Sims PLC's opinion is based on existing federal income tax law governing qualification as a REIT, which is subject to change, possibly on a retroactive basis. Moreover, our continued qualification and taxation as a REIT depend upon our ability to meet on a continuing basis, through actual annual operating results, certain qualification tests set forth in the federal income tax laws. Those qualification tests involve the percentage of income that we earn from specified sources, the percentage of our assets that falls within specified categories, the diversity of our share ownership, and the percentage of our earnings that we distribute. While Bass, Berry & Sims PLC has reviewed those matters in connection with the foregoing opinion, Bass, Berry & Sims PLC will not review our compliance with those tests on a continuing basis. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that the actual results of our operations for any particular taxable year will satisfy such requirements. For a discussion of the tax consequences of our failure to qualify as a REIT, see "—Requirements for Qualification—Failure to Qualify" below.

        Pursuant to our declaration of trust, our board of trustees has the authority to make any tax elections on our behalf that, in its sole judgment, are in our best interest. This authority includes the ability to revoke or otherwise terminate our status as a REIT. Our board of trustees has the authority under our declaration of trust to make these elections without the necessity of obtaining the approval of our shareholders. In addition, our board of trustees has the authority to waive any restrictions and limitations contained in our declaration of trust that are intended to preserve our status as a REIT during any period in which our board of trustees has determined not to pursue or preserve our status as a REIT.

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        If we qualify as a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal income tax on the taxable income that we distribute to our shareholders. The benefit of that tax treatment is that it avoids the "double taxation," or taxation at both the corporate and shareholder levels, that generally results from owning shares in a corporation. However, we will be subject to federal tax in the following circumstances:

•

We are subject to the corporate federal income tax on any taxable income, including net capital gain that we do not distribute to shareholders during, or within a specified time period after, the calendar year in which the income is earned.



•

We may be subject to the corporate "alternative minimum tax" on any items of tax preference, including any deductions of net operating losses.



•

We are subject to tax, at the highest corporate rate, on:



•

net income from the sale or other disposition of property acquired through foreclosure ("foreclosure property") that we hold primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business, and



•

other non-qualifying income from foreclosure property.



•

We are subject to a 100% tax on net income from sales or other dispositions of property, other than foreclosure property, that we hold primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business.



•

If we fail to satisfy one or both of the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test, as described below under "—Requirements for Qualification—Gross Income Tests," but nonetheless continue to qualify as a REIT because we meet other requirements, we will be subject to a 100% tax on:



•

the greater of (1) the amount by which we fail the 75% gross income test, or (2) the amount by which 95% of our gross income exceeds the amount of our income qualifying under the 95% gross income test, multiplied, in either case, by



•

a fraction intended to reflect our profitability.



•

If we fail to distribute during a calendar year at least the sum of: (1) 85% of our REIT ordinary income for the year, (2) 95% of our REIT capital gain net income for the year, and (3) any undistributed taxable income required to be distributed from earlier periods, then we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the excess of the required distribution over the amount we actually distributed.



•

If we fail any of the asset tests (other than a de minimis failure of the 5% asset test or the 10% vote or value test), as described below under "—Requirements for Qualification—Asset Tests," as long as (1) the failure was due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, (2) we file a description of each asset that caused such failure with the Internal Revenue Service, and (3) we dispose of the assets or otherwise comply with the asset tests within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify such failure, we will pay a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or 35% of the net income from the nonqualifying assets during the period in which we failed to satisfy the asset tests.



•

If we fail to satisfy one or more requirements for REIT qualification, other than the gross income tests and the asset tests, and such failure is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, we will be required to pay a penalty of $50,000 for each such failure.



•

We may elect to retain and pay income tax on our net long-term capital gain.

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•

We will be subject to a 100% excise tax on transactions with a taxable REIT subsidiary that are not conducted on an arm's-length basis.



•

If we acquire any asset from a C corporation, or a corporation that generally is subject to full corporate-level tax, in a merger or other transaction in which we acquire a basis in the asset that is determined by reference either to the C corporation's basis in the asset or to another asset, we will pay tax at the highest regular corporate rate applicable if we recognize gain on the sale or disposition of the asset during the 10-year period after we acquire the asset. The amount of gain on which we will pay tax generally is the lesser of:



•

the amount of gain that we recognize at the time of the sale or disposition, and



•

the amount of gain that we would have recognized if we had sold the asset at the time we acquired it.



•

We may be required to pay monetary penalties to the Internal Revenue Service in certain circumstances, including if we fail to meet record-keeping requirements intended to monitor our compliance with rules relating to the composition of a REIT's shareholders, as described below in "—Requirements for Qualification—Recordkeeping Requirements."



•

The earnings of our lower-tier entities that are subchapter C corporations, including taxable REIT subsidiaries, are subject to federal corporate income tax.

        In addition, we may be subject to a variety of taxes, including payroll taxes and state, local and foreign income, property and other taxes on our assets and operations. We could also be subject to tax in situations and on transactions not presently contemplated.

Requirements for Qualification

        To qualify as a REIT, we must elect to be treated as a REIT, and we must meet various (a) organizational requirements, (b) gross income tests, (c) asset tests, and (d) annual distribution requirements.

        Organizational Requirements.    A REIT is a corporation, trust or association that meets each of the following requirements:

        (1)   It is managed by one or more trustees or directors;

        (2)   Its beneficial ownership is evidenced by transferable shares, or by transferable certificates of beneficial interest;

        (3)   It would be taxable as a domestic corporation, but for Sections 856 through 860 of the Internal Revenue Code;

        (4)   It is neither a financial institution nor an insurance company subject to special provisions of the federal income tax laws;

        (5)   At least 100 persons are beneficial owners of its shares or ownership certificates (determined without reference to any rules of attribution);

        (6)   Not more than 50% in value of its outstanding shares or ownership certificates is owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer individuals, which the federal income tax laws define to include certain entities, during the last half of any taxable year;

        (7)   It elects to be a REIT, or has made such election for a previous taxable year, and satisfies all relevant filing and other administrative requirements established by the Internal Revenue Service that must be met to elect and maintain REIT status;

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        (8)   It uses a calendar year for federal income tax purposes and complies with the recordkeeping requirements of the federal income tax laws; and

        (9)   It meets certain other qualifications, tests described below, regarding the nature of its income and assets and the distribution of its income.

        We must meet requirements 1 through 4, 8 and 9 during our entire taxable year and must meet requirement 5 during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months, or during a proportionate part of a taxable year of less than 12 months. If we comply with all the requirements for ascertaining information concerning the ownership of our outstanding shares in a taxable year and have no reason to know that we violated requirement 6, we will be deemed to have satisfied requirement 6 for that taxable year. Our declaration of trust provides for restrictions regarding the ownership and transfer of our shares of beneficial interest so that we should continue to satisfy these requirements. The provisions of the declaration of trust restricting the ownership and transfer of our shares of beneficial interest are described in "Description of Our Capital Shares—Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer."

        For purposes of determining share ownership under requirement 6, an "individual" generally includes a supplemental unemployment compensation benefits plan, a private foundation, or a portion of a trust permanently set aside or used exclusively for charitable purposes. An "individual," however, generally does not include a trust that is a qualified employee pension or profit sharing trust under the federal income tax laws, and beneficiaries of such a trust will be treated as holding our shares in proportion to their actuarial interests in the trust for purposes of requirement 6. We believe we have issued sufficient shares of beneficial interest with enough diversity of ownership to satisfy requirements 5 and 6 set forth above.

        A corporation that is a "qualified REIT subsidiary" is not treated as a corporation separate from its parent REIT. A "qualified REIT subsidiary" is a corporation, all of the capital stock of which is owned by the REIT and that has not elected to be a taxable REIT subsidiary. All assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit of a "qualified REIT subsidiary" are treated as assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit of the REIT. Thus, in applying the requirements described herein, any "qualified REIT subsidiary" that we own will be ignored, and all assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit of such subsidiary will be treated as our assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit.

        An unincorporated domestic entity, such as a partnership or limited liability company that has a single owner, generally is not treated as an entity separate from its parent for federal income tax purposes. An unincorporated domestic entity with two or more owners is generally treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. In the case of a REIT that is a partner in a partnership, the REIT is treated as owning its proportionate share of the assets of the partnership and as earning its allocable share of the gross income of the partnership for purposes of the applicable REIT qualification tests. Thus, our proportionate share of the assets, liabilities and items of income of our operating partnership and any other partnership, joint venture, or limited liability company that is treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes in which we acquire an interest, directly or indirectly, is treated as our assets and gross income for purposes of applying the various REIT qualification requirements. For purposes of the 10% value test (described in "—Requirements for Qualification—Asset Tests"), our proportionate share is based on our proportionate interest in the equity interests and certain debt securities issued by a partnership. For all of the other asset and income tests, our proportionate share is based on our proportionate interest in the capital of the partnership.

        A REIT is permitted to own up to 100% of the stock of one or more "taxable REIT subsidiaries." A taxable REIT subsidiary is a fully taxable corporation that may earn income that would not be qualifying income if earned directly by the parent REIT. The subsidiary and the REIT must jointly elect to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary. A taxable REIT subsidiary will pay income

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tax at regular corporate rates on any income that it earns. In addition, the taxable REIT subsidiary rules limit the deductibility of interest paid or accrued by a taxable REIT subsidiary to its parent REIT to assure that the taxable REIT subsidiary is subject to an appropriate level of corporate taxation. Further, the rules impose a 100% excise tax on transactions between a taxable REIT subsidiary and its parent REIT or the REIT's tenants that are not conducted on an arm's-length basis. We may engage in activities indirectly through a taxable REIT subsidiary as necessary or convenient to avoid obtaining the benefit of income or services that would jeopardize our REIT status if we engaged in the activities directly. In particular, we would likely engage in activities through a taxable REIT subsidiary if we wished to provide services to unrelated parties which might produce income that does not qualify under the gross income tests described below. We might also dispose of an unwanted asset through a taxable REIT subsidiary as necessary or convenient to avoid the 100% tax on income from prohibited transactions. See description below under "Prohibited Transactions."

        We own interests in various entities described above.

        Gross Income Tests.    We must satisfy two gross income tests annually to maintain our qualification as a REIT. First, at least 75% of our gross income for each taxable year must consist of defined types of income that we derive, directly or indirectly, from investments relating to real property or mortgages on real property or qualified temporary investment income. Qualifying income for purposes of that 75% gross income test generally includes:

•

rents from real property;



•

interest on debt secured by mortgages on real property or on interests in real property;



•

dividends or other distributions on, and gain from the sale of, shares in other REITs (excluding dividends from our taxable REIT subsidiaries);



•

gain from the sale of real estate assets;



•

income and gain derived from foreclosure property; and



•

income derived from the temporary investment of new capital that is attributable to the issuance of our shares of beneficial interest or a public offering of our debt with a maturity date of at least five years and that we receive during the one year period beginning on the date on which we receive such new capital.

        Second, in general, at least 95% of our gross income for each taxable year must consist of income that is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, other types of interest and dividends (including dividends from our taxable REIT subsidiaries), gain from the sale or disposition of stock or securities, or any combination of these. Gross income from our sale of property that we hold primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business is excluded from both the numerator and the denominator in both income tests. In addition, any gains from "hedging transactions," as defined in "—Hedging Transactions," that are clearly and timely identified as such will be excluded from both the numerator and the denominator for purposes of the 95% gross income test (but not the 75% gross income test). Income and gain from "hedging transactions" entered into after July 30, 2008 that are clearly and timely identified as such will also be excluded from both the numerator and the denominator for purposes of the 75% gross income test. In addition, certain foreign currency gains recognized after July 30, 2008 will be excluded from gross income for purposes of one or both of the gross income tests. See "—Foreign Currency Gain." The following paragraphs discuss the specific application of the gross income tests to us.

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        Rents from Real Property.    Rent that we receive from our real property will qualify as "rents from real property," which is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests, only if the following conditions are met:

        First, the rent must not be based in whole or in part on the income or profits of any person. Participating rent, however, will qualify as "rents from real property" if it is based on percentages of receipts or sales and the percentages:

•

are fixed at the time the leases are entered into;



•

are not renegotiated during the term of the leases in a manner that has the effect of basing percentage rent on income or profits; and



•

conform with normal business practice.

        More generally, the rent will not qualify as "rents from real property" if, considering the relevant lease and all the surrounding circumstances, the arrangement does not conform with normal business practice, but is in reality used as a means of basing the rent on income or profits. We have represented to Bass, Berry & Sims PLC that we intend to set and accept rents which are fixed dollar amounts or a fixed percentage of gross revenue, and not to any extent by reference to any person's income or profits, in compliance with the rules above.

        Second, we must not own, actually or constructively, 10% or more of the stock of any corporate tenant or the assets or net profits of any tenant, referred to as a related party tenant, other than a taxable REIT subsidiary. The constructive ownership rules generally provide that, if 10% or more in value of our shares is owned, directly or indirectly, by or for any person, we are considered as owning the stock owned, directly or indirectly, by or for such person. We do not own any stock or any assets or net profits of any tenant directly. Additionally, we have represented to Bass, Berry & Sims PLC that we will not rent any property to a related-party tenant. However, because the constructive ownership rules are broad and it is not possible to monitor continually direct and indirect transfers of our shares, no absolute assurance can be given that such transfers or other events of which we have no knowledge will not cause us to own constructively 10% or more of a tenant (or a subtenant, in which case only rent attributable to the subtenant is disqualified) other than a taxable REIT subsidiary at some future date.

        Under an exception to the related-party tenant rule described in the preceding paragraph, rent that we receive from a taxable REIT subsidiary will qualify as "rents from real property" as long as (1) at least 90% of the leased space in the property is leased to persons other than taxable REIT subsidiaries and related-party tenants, and (2) the amount paid by the taxable REIT subsidiary to rent space at the property is substantially comparable to rents paid by other tenants of the property for comparable space. The "substantially comparable" requirement must be satisfied when the lease is entered into, when it is extended, and when the lease is modified, if the modification increases the rent paid by the taxable REIT subsidiary. If the requirement that at least 90% of the leased space in the related property is rented to unrelated tenants is met when a lease is entered into, extended, or modified, such requirement will continue to be met as long as there is no increase in the space leased to any taxable REIT subsidiary or related party tenant. Any increased rent attributable to a modification of a lease with a taxable REIT subsidiary in which we own directly or indirectly more than 50% of the voting power or value of the stock (a "controlled taxable REIT subsidiary") will not be treated as "rents from real property."

        Third, the rent attributable to the personal property leased in connection with a lease of real property must not be greater than 15% of the total rent received under the lease. The rent attributable to personal property under a lease is the amount that bears the same ratio to total rent under the lease for the taxable year as the average of the fair market values of the leased personal property at the beginning and at the end of the taxable year bears to the average of the aggregate fair market values of both the real and personal property covered by the lease at the beginning and at the end of such

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taxable year (the "personal property ratio"). With respect to each of our leases, we believe that the personal property ratio generally is less than 15%. Where that is not, or may in the future not be, the case, we believe that any income attributable to personal property will not jeopardize our ability to qualify as a REIT. There can be no assurance, however, that the Internal Revenue Service would not challenge our calculation of a personal property ratio, or that a court would not uphold such assertion. If such a challenge were successfully asserted, we could fail to satisfy the 75% or 95% gross income test and thus lose our REIT status.

        If a portion of the rent we receive from a property does not qualify as "rents from real property" because the rent attributable to personal property exceeds 15% of the total rent for a taxable year, the portion of the rent attributable to personal property will not be qualifying income for purposes of either the 75% or 95% gross income test. Thus, if rent attributable to personal property, plus any other income that is nonqualifying income for purposes of the 95% gross income test, during a taxable year exceeds 5% of our gross income during the year, we would lose our REIT status, unless we qualified for certain statutory relief provisions. By contrast, in the following circumstances, none of the rent from a lease of property would qualify as "rents from real property": (1) the rent is considered based on the income or profits of the tenant; (2) the lessee is a related party tenant or fails to qualify for the exception to the related-party tenant rule for qualifying taxable REIT subsidiaries; or (3) we furnish noncustomary services to the tenants of the property, or manage or operate the property, other than through a qualifying independent contractor or a taxable REIT subsidiary. In any of these circumstances, we could lose our REIT status, unless we qualified for certain statutory relief provisions, because we would be unable to satisfy either the 75% or 95% gross income test.

        Fourth, we cannot furnish or render noncustomary services to the tenants of our properties, or manage or operate our properties, other than through an independent contractor who is adequately compensated and from whom we do not derive or receive any income. However, we need not provide services through an "independent contractor," but instead may provide services directly to our tenants, if the services are "usually or customarily rendered" in connection with the rental of space for occupancy only and are not considered to be provided for the tenants' convenience. In addition, we may provide a minimal amount of "noncustomary" services to the tenants of a property, other than through an independent contractor, as long as our income from the services does not exceed 1% of our income from the related property. Finally, we may own up to 100% of the stock of one or more taxable REIT subsidiaries, which may provide noncustomary services to our tenants without tainting our rents from the related properties. We have not performed, and do not intend to perform, any services other than customary ones for our tenants, other than services provided through independent contractors or taxable REIT subsidiaries.

        Tenants may be required to pay, in addition to base rent, reimbursements for certain amounts we are obligated to pay to third parties (such as a lessee's proportionate share of a property's operational or capital expenses), penalties for nonpayment or late payment of rent or additions to rent. These and other similar payments should qualify as "rents from real property." To the extent they do not, they should be treated as interest that qualifies for the 95% gross income test.

        Interest.    The term "interest" generally does not include any amount received or accrued, directly or indirectly, if the determination of the amount depends in whole or in part on the income or profits of any person. However, an amount received or accrued generally will not be excluded from the term "interest" solely because it is based on a fixed percentage or percentages of receipts or sales. Furthermore, to the extent that interest from a loan that is based on the profit or net cash proceeds from the sale of the property securing the loan constitutes a "shared appreciation provision," income attributable to such participation feature will be treated as gain from the sale of the secured property.

        Prohibited Transactions.    A REIT will incur a 100% tax on the net income derived from any sale or other disposition of property, other than foreclosure property, that the REIT holds primarily for sale

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to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business. We believe that none of our assets are held primarily for sale to customers and that a sale of any of our assets will not be in the ordinary course of our business. Whether a REIT holds an asset "primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business" depends, however, on the facts and circumstances in effect from time to time, including those related to a particular asset. A safe harbor to the characterization of the sale of property by a REIT as a prohibited transaction and the 100% prohibited transaction tax is available if the following requirements are met:

•

the REIT has held the property for not less than four years (or, for sales made after July 30, 2008, two years);



•

the aggregate expenditures made by the REIT, or any partner of the REIT, during the four-year period (or, for sales made after July 30, 2008, two-year period) preceding the date of the sale that are includable in the basis of the property do not exceed 30% of the selling price of the property;



•

either (1) during the year in question, the REIT did not make more than seven sales of property other than foreclosure property or sales to which Section 1033 of the Internal Revenue Code applies, (2) the aggregate adjusted bases of all such properties sold by the REIT during the year did not exceed 10% of the aggregate bases of all of the assets of the REIT at the beginning of the year or (3) for sales made after July 30, 2008, the aggregate fair market value of all such properties sold by the REIT during the year did not exceed 10% of the aggregate fair market value of all of the assets of the REIT at the beginning of the year;



•

in the case of property not acquired through foreclosure or lease termination, the REIT has held the property for at least four years (or, for sales made after July 30, 2008, two years) for the production of rental income; and



•

if the REIT has made more than seven sales of non-foreclosure property during the taxable year, substantially all of the marketing and development expenditures with respect to the property were made through an independent contractor from whom the REIT derives no income.

        We will attempt to comply with the terms of the safe-harbor provision in the federal income tax laws prescribing when an asset sale will not be characterized as a prohibited transaction. We cannot assure you; however, that we can comply with the safe-harbor provisions or that we will avoid owning property that may be characterized as property held "primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business." We may, however, form or acquire a taxable REIT subsidiary to hold and dispose of those properties we conclude may not fall within the safe-harbor provisions.

        Foreclosure Property.    We will be subject to tax at the maximum corporate rate on any income from foreclosure property, which includes certain foreign currency gains and related deductions recognized subsequent to July 30, 2008, other than income that otherwise would be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, less expenses directly connected with the production of that income. However, gross income from foreclosure property will qualify under the 75% and 95% gross income tests. "Foreclosure property" is any real property, including interests in real property, and any personal property incident to such real property:

•

that is acquired by a REIT as the result of the REIT having bid on such property at foreclosure, or having otherwise reduced such property to ownership or possession by agreement or process of law, after there was a default or default was imminent on a lease of such property or on indebtedness that such property secured;



•

for which the related loan or leased property was acquired by the REIT at a time when the default was not imminent or anticipated; and



•

for which the REIT makes a proper election to treat the property as foreclosure property.

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        A REIT will not be considered to have foreclosed on a property where the REIT takes control of the property as a mortgagee-in-possession and cannot receive any profit or sustain any loss except as a creditor of the mortgagor. Property generally ceases to be foreclosure property at the end of the third taxable year following the taxable year in which the REIT acquired the property (or longer if an extension is granted by the Secretary of the Treasury). This period (as extended, if applicable) terminates, and foreclosure property ceases to be foreclosure property on the first day:

•

on which a lease is entered into for the property that, by its terms, will give rise to income that does not qualify for purposes of the 75% gross income test, or any amount is received or accrued, directly or indirectly, pursuant to a lease entered into on or after such day that will give rise to income that does not qualify for purposes of the 75% gross income test;



•

on which any construction takes place on the property, other than completion of a building or, any other improvement, where more than 10% of the construction was completed before default became imminent; or



•

which is more than 90 days after the day on which the REIT acquired the property and the property is used in a trade or business which is conducted by the REIT, other than through an independent contractor from whom the REIT itself does not derive or receive any income.

        Hedging Transactions.    From time to time, we enter into hedging transactions with respect to our assets or liabilities. Our hedging activities may include entering into interest rate swaps, caps, and floors, options to purchase such items, and futures and forward contracts. For hedging transactions entered into on or before July 30, 2008, income and gain from "hedging transactions" will be excluded from gross income for purposes of the 95% gross income test, but not the 75% gross income test. For hedging transactions entered into after July 30, 2008, income and gain from "hedging transactions" will be excluded from gross income for purposes of both the 75% and 95% gross income tests. A "hedging transaction" means either (1) any transaction entered into in the normal course of our trade or business primarily to manage the risk of interest rate, price changes, or currency fluctuations with respect to borrowings made or to be made, or ordinary obligations incurred or to be incurred, to acquire or carry real estate assets or (2) for transactions entered into after July 30, 2008, any transaction entered into primarily to manage the risk of currency fluctuations with respect to any item of income or gain that would be qualifying income under the 75% or 95% gross income test (or any property which generates such income or gain). We will be required to clearly identify any such hedging transaction before the close of the day on which it was acquired, originated, or entered into and to satisfy other identification requirements. No assurance can be given that our hedging activities will not give rise to income that does not qualify for purposes of either or both of the gross income tests, and will not adversely affect our ability to satisfy the REIT qualification requirements.

        Foreign Currency Gain.    Certain foreign currency gains recognized after June 30, 2008 will be excluded from gross income for purposes of one or both of the gross income tests. "Real estate foreign exchange gain" will be excluded from gross income for purposes of the 75% gross income test. Real estate foreign exchange gain generally includes foreign currency gain attributable to any item of income or gain that is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, foreign currency gain attributable to the acquisition or ownership of (or becoming or being the obligor under) obligations secured by mortgages on real property or on interest in real property and certain foreign currency gain attributable to certain "qualified business units" of a REIT. "Passive foreign exchange gain" will be excluded from gross income for purposes of the 95% gross income test. Passive foreign exchange gain generally includes real estate foreign exchange gain as described above, and also includes foreign currency gain attributable to any item of income or gain that is qualifying income for purposes of the 95% gross income test and foreign currency gain attributable to the acquisition or ownership of (or becoming or being the obligor under) obligations secured by mortgages on real property or on interest

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in real property. Because passive foreign exchange gain includes real estate foreign exchange gain, real estate foreign exchange gain is excluded from gross income for purposes of both the 75% and 95% gross income test. These exclusions for real estate foreign exchange gain and passive foreign exchange gain do not apply to any certain foreign currency gain derived from dealing, or engaging in substantial and regular trading, in securities. Such gain is treated as nonqualifying income for purposes of both the 75% and 95% gross income tests.

        Failure to Satisfy Gross Income Tests.    If we fail to satisfy one or both of the gross income tests for any taxable year, we nevertheless may qualify as a REIT for that year if we qualify for relief under certain provisions of the federal income tax laws. Those relief provisions will be available if:

•

our failure to meet those tests is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect; and



•

following such failure for any taxable year, a schedule of the sources of our income is filed with the Internal Revenue Service in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

        We cannot predict, however, whether any failure to meet these tests will qualify for the relief provisions. As discussed above in "—Taxation of Our Company," even if the relief provisions apply, we would incur a 100% tax on the gross income attributable to the greater of (1) the amount by which we fail the 75% gross income test, or (2) the excess of 95% of our gross income over the amount of gross income qualifying under the 95% gross income test, multiplied, in either case, by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability.

        Asset Tests.    To maintain our qualification as a REIT, we also must satisfy the following asset tests at the end of each quarter of each taxable year.

        First, at least 75% of the value of our total assets must consist of:

•

cash or cash items, including certain receivables;



•

government securities;



•

interests in real property, including leaseholds and options to acquire real property and leaseholds;



•

interests in mortgages on real property;



•

stock in other REITs; and



•

investments in stock or debt instruments during the one year period following our receipt of new capital that we raise through equity offerings or public offerings of debt with at least a five year term.

        Second, of our investments not included in the 75% asset class, the value of our interest in any one issuer's securities may not exceed 5% of the value of our total assets, or the "5% asset test".

        Third, of our investments not included in the 75% asset class, we may not own more than 10% of the voting power or value of any one issuer's outstanding securities, or the "10% vote test" and "10% value test", respectively.

        Fourth, no more than 20% of the value of our total assets (or, beginning with our 2009 taxable year, 25% of the value of our total assets) may consist of the securities of one or more taxable REIT subsidiaries.

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        Fifth, no more than 25% of the value of our total assets may consist of the securities of taxable REIT subsidiaries and other taxable subsidiaries and other assets that are not qualifying assets for purposes of the 75% asset test.

        For purposes of the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and 10% value test, the term "securities" does not include stock in another REIT, equity or debt securities of a qualified REIT subsidiary or taxable REIT subsidiary, mortgage loans that constitute real estate assets, or equity interests in a partnership. The term "securities," however, generally includes debt securities issued by a partnership or another REIT, except that for purposes of the 10% value test, the term "securities" does not include:

•

"Straight debt" securities, which is defined as a written unconditional promise to pay on demand or on a specified date a sum certain in money if (i) the debt is not convertible, directly or indirectly, into stock, and (ii) the interest rate and interest payment dates are not contingent on profits, the borrower's discretion, or similar factors. "Straight debt" securities do not include any securities issued by a partnership or a corporation in which we or any controlled taxable REIT subsidiary hold non-"straight debt" securities that have an aggregate value of more than 1% of the issuer's outstanding securities. However, "straight debt" securities include debt subject to the following contingencies:



•

a contingency relating to the time of payment of interest or principal, as long as either (i) there is no change to the effective yield of the debt obligation, other than a change to the annual yield that does not exceed the greater of 0.25% or 5% of the annual yield, or (ii) neither the aggregate issue price nor the aggregate face amount of the issuer's debt obligations held by us exceeds $1 million and no more than 12 months of unaccrued interest on the debt obligations can be required to be prepaid; and



•

a contingency relating to the time or amount of payment upon a default or prepayment of a debt obligation, as long as the contingency is consistent with customary commercial practice.



•

Any loan to an individual or an estate.



•

Any "section 467 rental agreement," other than an agreement with a related party tenant.



•

Any obligation to pay "rents from real property."



•

Certain securities issued by governmental entities.



•

Any security issued by a REIT.



•

Any debt instrument issued by an entity treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes in which we are a partner to the extent of our proportionate interest in the debt and equity securities of the partnership.



•

Any debt instrument issued by an entity treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes not described in the preceding bullet points if at least 75% of the partnership's gross income, excluding income from prohibited transactions, is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test described above in "—Requirements for Qualification—Gross Income Tests." For purposes of the 10% value test, our proportionate share of the assets of a partnership is our proportionate interest in any securities issued by the partnership, without regard to the securities described in the last two bullet points above.

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        We will monitor the status of our assets for purposes of the various asset tests and will manage our portfolio in order to comply at all times with such tests. If we fail to satisfy the asset tests at the end of a calendar quarter, we would not lose our REIT status if:

•

we satisfied the asset tests at the end of the preceding calendar quarter; and



•

the discrepancy between the value of our assets and the asset test requirements arose from changes in the market values of our assets and was not wholly or partly caused by the acquisition of one or more non-qualifying assets.

        If we did not satisfy the condition described in the second item above, we still could avoid disqualification by eliminating any discrepancy within 30 days after the close of the calendar quarter in which the discrepancy arose.

        In the event that, at the end of any calendar quarter, we violate the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test or the 10% value test described above, we will not lose our REIT status if (i) the failure is de minimis (up to the lesser of 1% of our assets or $10 million) and (ii) we dispose of assets or otherwise comply with the asset tests within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify such failure. In the event of any other failure of the asset tests, we will not lose our REIT status if (i) the failure was due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, (ii) we file a description of each asset causing the failure with the Internal Revenue Service, (iii) we dispose of assets or otherwise comply with the asset tests within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, and (iv) we pay a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or 35% of the net income from the nonqualifying assets during the period in which we failed to satisfy the asset tests.

        Annual Distribution Requirements.    Each taxable year, we must distribute dividends, other than capital gain dividends and deemed distributions of retained capital gain, to our shareholders in an aggregate amount not less than:

•

the sum of



•

90% of our "REIT taxable income," computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain or loss, and



•

90% of our after-tax net income, if any, from foreclosure property, minus



•

the sum of certain items of non-cash income.

        Generally, we must pay such distributions in the taxable year to which they relate, or in the following taxable year if either (a) we declare the distribution before we timely file our federal income tax return for the year and pay the distribution on or before the first regular dividend payment date after such declaration or (b) we declare the distribution in October, November, or December of the taxable year, payable to shareholders of record on a specified day in any such month, and we actually pay the dividend before the end of January of the following year. In both instances, these distributions relate to our prior taxable year for purposes of the 90% distribution requirement.

        We will pay federal income tax on taxable income, including net capital gain, that we do not distribute to shareholders. Furthermore, if we fail to distribute during a calendar year, or by the end of January of the following calendar year in the case of distributions with declaration and record dates falling in the last three months of the calendar year, at least the sum of:

•

85% of our REIT ordinary income for the year,



•

95% of our REIT capital gain income for the year, and



•

any undistributed taxable income from prior periods,

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we will incur a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the excess of such required distribution over the amounts we actually distributed. If we so elect, we will be treated as having distributed any such retained amount for purposes of the 4% nondeductible excise tax described above.

        It is possible that, from time to time, we may experience timing differences between the actual receipt of income and actual payment of deductible expenses and the inclusion of that income and deduction of such expenses in arriving at our REIT taxable income. For example, we may not deduct recognized capital losses from our "REIT taxable income." Further, it is possible that, from time to time, we may be allocated a share of net capital gain from a partnership in which we own an interest attributable to the sale of depreciated property that exceeds our allocable share of cash attributable to that sale. Although several types of non-cash income are excluded in determining the annual distribution requirement, we will incur corporate income tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax with respect to those non-cash income items if we do not distribute those items on a current basis. As a result of the foregoing, we may have less cash than is necessary to distribute all of our taxable income and thereby avoid corporate income tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax imposed on certain undistributed income. In such a situation, we may need to borrow funds or issue additional common or preferred shares.

        Under certain circumstances, we may be able to correct a failure to meet the distribution requirement for a year by paying "deficiency dividends" to our shareholders in a later year. We may include such deficiency dividends in our deduction for dividends paid for the earlier year. Although we may be able to avoid income tax on amounts distributed as deficiency dividends, we will be required to pay interest to the Internal Revenue Service based upon the amount of any deduction we take for deficiency dividends.

        Recordkeeping Requirements.    We must maintain certain records in order to qualify as a REIT. In addition, to avoid paying a penalty, we must request on an annual basis information from our shareholders designed to disclose the actual ownership of our outstanding common shares.

        Failure to Qualify.    If we were to fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year and no relief provision applied, we would have the following consequences: We would be subject to federal income tax and any applicable alternative minimum tax at regular corporate rates applicable to regular C corporations on our taxable income, determined without reduction for amounts distributed to shareholders. We would not be required to make any distributions to shareholders. Unless we qualified for relief under specific statutory provisions, we would not be permitted to elect taxation as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year during which we ceased to qualify as a REIT.

        If we fail to satisfy one or more requirements for REIT qualification, other than the gross income tests and the asset tests, we could avoid disqualification if our failure is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect and we pay a penalty of $50,000 for each such failure. In addition, there are relief provisions for a failure of the gross income tests and asset tests, as described in "—Requirements for Qualification—Gross Income Tests" and "—Requirements for Qualification—Asset Tests."

        Taxable REIT Subsidiaries.    As described above, we may own up to 100% of the stock of one or more taxable REIT subsidiaries. A taxable REIT subsidiary is a fully taxable corporation that is permitted to have income that would not be qualifying income if earned directly by us. A taxable REIT subsidiary may provide services to our tenants and engage in activities unrelated to our tenants, such as third-party management, development, and other independent business activities.

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        We and a subsidiary must elect for the subsidiary to be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary. If a taxable REIT subsidiary directly or indirectly owns more than 35% of the value or voting power of all outstanding stock of a corporation, the corporation will automatically also be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary.

        Rent we receive from our taxable REIT subsidiaries will qualify as "rents from real property" as long as at least 90% of the leased space in the property is leased to persons other than taxable REIT subsidiaries and related party tenants, and the amount paid by the taxable REIT subsidiary to rent space at the property is substantially comparable to rents paid by other tenants of the property for comparable space. The "substantially comparable" requirement must be satisfied when the lease is entered into, when it is extended, and when the lease is modified, if the modification increases the rent paid by the taxable REIT subsidiary. If the requirement that at least 90% of the leased space in the related property is rented to unrelated tenants is met when a lease is entered into, extended, or modified, such requirement will continue to be met as long as there is no increase in the space leased to any taxable REIT subsidiary or related party tenant. Any increased rent attributable to a modification of a lease with a controlled taxable REIT subsidiary will not be treated as "rents from real property." The taxable REIT subsidiary rules limit the deductibility of interest paid or accrued by a taxable REIT subsidiary to us to assure that the taxable REIT subsidiary is subject to an appropriate level of corporate taxation. Further, the rules impose a 100% excise tax on transactions between a taxable REIT subsidiary and us or our tenants that are not conducted on an arm's-length basis.

        State and Local Taxes.    We may be subject to taxation by various states and localities, including those in which we transact business or own property. The state and local tax treatment in such jurisdictions may differ from the federal income tax treatment described above.

Other Tax Consequences

        Tax Aspects of Our Investments in the Operating Partnership.    The following discussion summarizes certain federal income tax considerations applicable to our direct or indirect investment in our operating partnership and any subsidiary partnerships or limited liability companies we form or acquire that are treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes, each individually referred to as a "Partnership" and, collectively, as "Partnerships." The following discussion does not address state or local tax laws or any federal tax laws other than income tax laws.

        Classification as Partnerships.    We are required to include in our income our distributive share of each Partnership's income and to deduct our distributive share of each Partnership's losses but only if such Partnership is classified for federal income tax purposes as a partnership (or an entity that is disregarded for federal income tax purposes if the entity has only one owner or member), rather than as a corporation or an association taxable as a corporation.

        An organization with at least two owners or members will be classified as a partnership, rather than as a corporation, for federal income tax purposes if it:

•

is treated as a partnership under the Treasury regulations relating to entity classification (the "check-the-box regulations"); and



•

is not a "publicly traded" partnership.

        Under the check-the-box regulations, an unincorporated entity with at least two owners or members may elect to be classified either as an association taxable as a corporation or as a partnership. If such an entity does not make an election, it generally will be treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. We intend that each Partnership will be classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes (or else a disregarded entity where there are not at least two separate beneficial owners).

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        A publicly traded partnership is a partnership whose interests are traded on an established securities market or are readily tradable on a secondary market (or a substantial equivalent). A publicly traded partnership is generally treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, but will not be so treated if, for each taxable year beginning after December 31, 1987 in which it was classified as a publicly traded partnership, at least 90% of the partnership's gross income consisted of specified passive income, including real property rents (which includes rents that would be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, with certain modifications that make it easier for the rents to qualify for the 90% passive income exception), gains from the sale or other disposition of real property, interest, and dividends (the "90% passive income exception").

        Treasury regulations, referred to as PTP regulations, provide limited safe harbors from treatment as a publicly traded partnership. Pursuant to one of those safe harbors (the "private placement exclusion"), interests in a partnership will not be treated as readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof if (1) all interests in the partnership were issued in a transaction or transactions that were not required to be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and (2) the partnership does not have more than 100 partners at any time during the partnership's taxable year. For the determination of the number of partners in a partnership, a person owning an interest in a partnership, grantor trust, or S corporation that owns an interest in the partnership is treated as a partner in the partnership only if (1) substantially all of the value of the owner's interest in the entity is attributable to the entity's direct or indirect interest in the partnership and (2) a principal purpose of the use of the entity is to permit the partnership to satisfy the 100-partner limitation. Each Partnership should qualify for the private placement exclusion.

        We have not requested, and do not intend to request, a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service that the Partnerships will be classified as partnerships (or disregarded entities, if the entity has only one owner or member) for federal income tax purposes. If for any reason a Partnership were taxable as a corporation, rather than as a partnership, for federal income tax purposes, we may not be able to qualify as a REIT, unless we qualify for certain relief provisions. See "—Requirements for Qualification—Gross Income Tests" and "—Requirements for Qualification—Asset Tests." In addition, any change in a Partnership's status for tax purposes might be treated as a taxable event, in which case we might incur tax liability without any related cash distribution. See "—Requirements for Qualification—Annual Distribution Requirements." Further, items of income and deduction of such Partnership would not pass through to its partners, and its partners would be treated as shareholders for tax purposes. Consequently, such Partnership would be required to pay income tax at corporate rates on its net income, and distributions to its partners would constitute dividends that would not be deductible in computing such Partnership's taxable income.

Income Taxation of the Partnerships and Their Partners

        Partners, Not the Partnerships, Subject to Tax.    A partnership is not a taxable entity for federal income tax purposes. We will therefore take into account our allocable share of each Partnership's income, gains, losses, deductions, and credits for each taxable year of the Partnership ending with or within our taxable year, even if we receive no distribution from the Partnership for that year or a distribution less than our share of taxable income. Similarly, even if we receive a distribution, it may not be taxable if the distribution does not exceed our adjusted tax basis in our interest in the Partnership.

        Partnership Allocations.    Although a partnership agreement generally will determine the allocation of income and losses among partners, allocations will be disregarded for tax purposes if they do not comply with the provisions of the federal income tax laws governing partnership allocations. If an allocation is not recognized for federal income tax purposes, the item subject to the allocation will be reallocated in accordance with the partners' interests in the partnership, which will be determined by

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taking into account all of the facts and circumstances relating to the economic arrangement of the partners with respect to such item.

        Tax Allocations With Respect to Contributed Properties.    Income, gain, loss, and deduction attributable to (a) appreciated or depreciated property that is contributed to a partnership in exchange for an interest in the partnership or (b) property revalued on the books of a partnership must be allocated in a manner such that the contributing partner is charged with, or benefits from, respectively, the unrealized gain or unrealized loss associated with the property at the time of the contribution. The amount of such unrealized gain or unrealized loss, referred to as "built-in gain" or "built-in loss," is generally equal to the difference between the fair market value of the contributed or revalued property at the time of contribution or revaluation and the adjusted tax basis of such property at that time, referred to as a book-tax difference. Such allocations are solely for federal income tax purposes and do not affect the book capital accounts or other economic or legal arrangements among the partners. The U.S. Treasury Department has issued regulations requiring partnerships to use a "reasonable method" for allocating items with respect to which there is a book-tax difference and outlining several reasonable allocation methods. Unless we, as general partner, select a different method, our operating partnership will use the traditional method for allocating items with respect to which there is a book-tax difference.

        Basis in Partnership Interest.    Our adjusted tax basis in any partnership interest we own generally will be:

•

the amount of cash and the basis of any other property we contribute to the partnership;



•

increased by our allocable share of the partnership's income (including tax-exempt income) and our allocable share of indebtedness of the partnership; and



•

reduced, but not below zero, by our allocable share of the partnership's loss (excluding any non-deductible items), the amount of cash and the basis of property distributed to us, and constructive distributions resulting from a reduction in our share of indebtedness of the partnership.

        Loss allocated to us in excess of our basis in a partnership interest will not be taken into account until we again have basis sufficient to absorb the loss. A reduction of our share of partnership indebtedness will be treated as a constructive cash distribution to us, and will reduce our adjusted tax basis. Distributions, including constructive distributions, in excess of the basis of our partnership interest will constitute taxable income to us. Such distributions and constructive distributions normally will be characterized as long-term capital gain.

        Sale of a Partnership's Property.    Generally, any gain realized by a Partnership on the sale of property held for more than one year will be long-term capital gain, except for any portion of the gain treated as depreciation or cost recovery recapture. Any gain or loss recognized by a Partnership on the disposition of contributed or revalued properties will be allocated first to the partners who contributed the properties or who were partners at the time of revaluation, to the extent of their built-in gain or loss on those properties for federal income tax purposes. The partners' built-in gain or loss on contributed or revalued properties is the difference between the partners' proportionate share of the book value of those properties and the partners' tax basis allocable to those properties at the time of the contribution or revaluation. Any remaining gain or loss recognized by the Partnership on the disposition of contributed or revalued properties, and any gain or loss recognized by the Partnership on the disposition of other properties, will be allocated among the partners in accordance with their percentage interests in the Partnership.

        Our share of any Partnership gain from the sale of inventory or other property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of the Partnership's trade or business will be treated as income from a prohibited transaction subject to a 100% tax. Income from a prohibited transaction may have an

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adverse effect on our ability to satisfy the gross income tests for REIT status. See "—Requirements for Qualification—Gross Income Tests." We do not presently intend to acquire or hold, or to allow any Partnership to acquire or hold, any property that is likely to be treated as inventory or property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of our, or the Partnership's, trade or business.

PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

        The following is a summary of the material terms of the partnership agreement of our operating partnership, which we refer to as the "partnership agreement." This summary is not comprehensive. For more detail, you should refer to the partnership agreement itself, which is incorporated by reference to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. See "Where You Can Find More Information." For purposes of this section, references to "our Company," "we," "us" and "our" mean U-Store-It Trust and its wholly owned subsidiaries.

Management

        Our operating partnership, U-Store-It, L.P., is a Delaware limited partnership that was formed on July 25, 1996. We are the sole general partner of our operating partnership, and we conduct substantially all of our operations through our operating partnership. As of September 30, 2008, we owned approximately 91.9% of the aggregate partnership interests in our operating partnership. Except as otherwise expressly provided in the partnership agreement, we, as general partner, have the exclusive right and full authority and responsibility to manage and operate the partnership's business. Limited partners generally do not have any right to participate in or exercise control or management power over the business and affairs of our operating partnership or the power to sign documents for or otherwise bind our operating partnership. We, as general partner, have full power and authority to do all things we deem necessary or desirable to conduct the business of our operating partnership, as described below. In particular, we are under no obligation to consider the tax consequences to limited partners when making decisions for the benefit of our operating partnership but we are expressly permitted to take into account our tax consequences. The limited partners have no power to remove us as general partner, unless our shares are not publicly-traded, in which case we, as general partner, may be removed with or without cause by the consent of the partners holding partnership interests representing more than 50% of the percentage interests (as defined in the partnership agreement) entitled to vote thereon. In certain limited circumstances, the consent of the limited partners (not including us in some cases) is necessary.

Management Liability and Indemnification

        We, as general partner of our operating partnership, and our officers and trustees are not liable for monetary or other damages to our operating partnership, any partners or assignees for losses sustained, liabilities incurred or benefits not derived as a result of errors in judgment or mistakes of fact or law or of any act or omission, unless we acted in bad faith and the act or omission was material to the matter giving rise to the loss, liability or benefit not derived. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the partnership agreement indemnifies us, as general partner, any limited partners, and any of our officers, trustees, agents and employees from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities, joint or several, expenses, judgments, fines, settlements and other amounts incurred in connection with any actions relating to the operations of our operating partnership, unless it is established by a final determination of a court of competent jurisdiction that:

•

the act or omission of the indemnitee was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and either was committed in bad faith or was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty;



•

the indemnitee actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or



•

in the case of any criminal proceeding, the indemnitee had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful.

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Fiduciary Responsibilities

        Our trustees and officers have duties under applicable Maryland law to manage us in a manner consistent with our best interests. At the same time, we, as general partner, have fiduciary duties to manage our operating partnership in a manner beneficial to our operating partnership and its partners. Our duties, as general partner, to our operating partnership and its limited partners, therefore, may come into conflict with the duties of our trustees and officers to us. In addition, our officers, trustees, agent and employees may be limited as to personal liability and/or entitled to indemnification to the extent described above in "—Management Liability and Indemnification."

Transfers

        We, as general partner, generally may not transfer any of our partnership interests in our operating partnership, including any of our limited partner interests, except in connection with a merger, consolidation or other combination with or into another person, a sale of all or substantially all of our assets or any reclassification, recapitalization or change of our outstanding shares. We may engage in such a transaction only if the transaction has been approved by the consent of the partners holding partnership interests representing more than 50% of the percentage interest (as defined in the partnership agreement) entitled to vote thereon and all other conditions to such transaction specified in our partnership agreement are satisfied. We may vote all operating partnership units held by us on such transaction. In addition, any such transaction must provide all limited partners with the right to receive consideration which, on a per unit basis, is equivalent in value to the consideration to be received by our shareholders, on a per share basis. We may also engage in a merger, consolidation or other combination with or into another person where following the consummation of such transaction, the equity holders of the surviving entity are substantially identical to our shareholders. We will not withdraw from our operating partnership, except in connection with a transaction as described in this paragraph.

        With certain limited exceptions, the limited partners may not transfer their interests in our operating partnership, in whole or in part, without our written consent, which consent may be withheld in our sole and absolute discretion.

        Even if our consent is not required for a transfer by a limited partner, we, as general partner, may prohibit the transfer of operating partnership units by a limited partner unless we receive a written opinion of legal counsel that the transfer would not require filing of a registration statement under the Securities Act or would not otherwise violate any federal or state securities laws or regulations applicable to our operating partnership or the operating partnership units. Further, except for certain limited exceptions, no transfer of operating partnership units by a limited partner, without our prior written consent, may be made if:

•

in the opinion of legal counsel for our operating partnership, there is a significant risk that the transfer would result in our operating partnership being treated as an association taxable as a corporation for federal income tax purposes or would result in a termination of our operating partnership for federal income tax purposes;



•

in the opinion of legal counsel for our operating partnership, there is a significant risk that the transfer would adversely affect our ability to continue to qualify as a REIT or would subject us to certain additional taxes; or



•

such transfer is effectuated through an "established securities market" or a "secondary market (or the substantial equivalent thereof)" within the meaning of Section 7704 of the Code.

        Except with our consent to the admission of the transferee as a limited partner, no transferee shall have any rights by virtue of the transfer other than the rights of an assignee, and will not be entitled to vote operating partnership units in any matter presented to the limited partners for a vote. We, as

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general partner, will have the right to consent to the admission of a transferee of the interest of a limited partner, which consent may be given or withheld by us in our sole and absolute discretion.

        In the case of a proposed transfer of operating partnership units to a lender to our operating partnership or any person related to the lender whose loan constitutes a nonrecourse liability, the transferring partner must provide notice to us and the lender must enter into arrangements with our operating partnership as part of such transaction.

Distributions

        The partnership agreement requires the distribution of available cash on at least a quarterly basis. Available cash is the net operating cash flow plus any reduction in reserves and minus interest and principal payments on debt, all cash expenditures (including capital expenditures), investments in any entity, any additions to reserves and other adjustments, as determined by us in our sole and absolute discretion.

        Unless we otherwise specifically agree in the partnership agreement or in an agreement entered into at the time a new class or series is created, no partnership interest will be entitled to a distribution in preference to any other partnership interest. A partner will not in any event receive a distribution of available cash with respect to an operating partnership unit if the partner is entitled to receive a distribution out of that same available cash with respect to a share of our Company for which that operating partnership unit has been exchanged or redeemed.

        We will make reasonable efforts, as determined by us in our sole and absolute discretion and consistent with our qualification as a REIT, to distribute available cash:

•

to the limited partners so as to preclude the distribution from being treated as part of a disguised sale for federal income tax purposes; and



•

to us, as general partner, in an amount sufficient to enable us to pay shareholder dividends that will satisfy our requirements for qualifying as a REIT and to avoid any federal income or excise tax liability for us.

Allocation of Net Income and Net Loss

        Net income and net loss of our operating partnership are determined and allocated with respect to each fiscal year of our operating partnership. Except as otherwise provided in the partnership agreement, an allocation of a share of net income or net loss is treated as an allocation of the same share of each item of income, gain, loss or deduction that is taken into account in computing net income or net loss. Except as otherwise provided in the partnership agreement, net income and net loss are allocated to the general partner and the limited partners in accordance with their respective percentage interests in the class at the end of each fiscal year. The partnership agreement contains provisions for special allocations intended to comply with certain regulatory requirements, including the requirements of Treasury Regulations Sections 1.704-1(b), 1.704-2 and 1.752-3(a).

Redemption

        As a general rule, a limited partner may exercise a redemption right to redeem his or her operating partnership units at any time beginning one year following the date of the issuance of the operating partnership units held by the limited partner. If we give the limited partners notice of our intention to make an extraordinary distribution of cash or property to our shareholders or effect a merger, a sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or any other similar extraordinary transaction, each limited partner may exercise its unit redemption right, regardless of the length of time it has held its operating partnership units. This unit redemption right begins when the notice is given, which must be at least 20 business days before the record date for determining shareholders eligible to receive the distribution or to vote upon the approval of the merger, sale or other extraordinary transaction, and

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ends on the record date. We, in our sole discretion, may shorten the required notice period of not less than 20 business days prior to the record date to determine the shareholders eligible to vote upon a merger transaction (but not any of the other covered transactions) to a period of not less than 10 calendar days so long as certain conditions set forth in the partnership agreement are met. If no record date is applicable, we must provide notice to the limited partners at least 20 business days before the consummation of the merger, sale or other extraordinary transaction.

        A limited partner may exercise its unit redemption right by giving written notice to our operating partnership and us. The operating partnership units specified in the notice generally will be redeemed on the tenth business day following the date we received the redemption notice or, in the case of the exercise of a unit redemption right in connection with an extraordinary transaction, the date our operating partnership and we received the redemption notice. A limited partner may not exercise the unit redemption right for fewer than 1,000 operating partnership units, or if the limited partner holds fewer than 1,000 operating partnership units, all of the operating partnership units held by that limited partner. The redeeming partner will have no right to receive any distributions paid on or after the redemption date with respect to those operating partnership units redeemed.

        Unless we elect to assume and perform our operating partnership's obligation with respect to the unit redemption right, as described below, a limited partner exercising a unit redemption right will receive cash from our operating partnership in an amount equal to the market value of our common shares for which the operating partnership units would have been redeemed if we had assumed and satisfied our operating partnership's obligation by paying our common shares, as described below. The market value of our common shares for this purpose (assuming a market then exists) will be equal to the average of the closing trading price of our common share on the NYSE for the ten trading days before the day on which we received the redemption notice.

        We have the right to elect to acquire the operating partnership units being redeemed directly from a limited partner in exchange for either cash in the amount specified above or a number of our common shares equal to the number of operating partnership units offered for redemption, adjusted as specified in the partnership agreement to take into account prior share dividends or any subdivisions or combinations of our common shares. The operating partnership will have the sole discretion to elect whether the redemption right will be satisfied by us in cash or our common shares. No redemption or exchange can occur if delivery of common shares by us would be prohibited either under the provisions of our declaration of trust or under applicable federal or state securities laws, in each case regardless of whether we would in fact elect to assume and satisfy the unit redemption right with shares.

Issuance of Additional Partnership Interests

        We, as general partner, are authorized to cause our operating partnership to issue additional operating partnership units or other partnership interests to its partners, including us and our affiliates, or other persons. These operating partnership units may be issued in one or more classes or in one or more series of any class, with designations, preferences and relative, participating, optional or other special rights, powers and duties, including rights, powers and duties senior to one or more other classes of partnership interests (including operating partnership units held by us), as determined by us in our sole and absolute discretion without the approval of any limited partner, subject to limitations described below.

        No operating partnership unit or interest may be issued to us as general partner or limited partner unless:

•

our operating partnership issues operating partnership units or other partnership interests in connection with the grant, award or issuance of shares or other equity interests in us having designations, preferences and other rights so that the economic interests attributable to the newly issued shares or other equity interests in us are substantially similar to the designations, preferences and other rights, except voting rights, of the operating partnership units or other

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partnership interests issued to us, and we contribute to our operating partnership the proceeds from the issuance of the shares or other equity interests received by us; or

•

our operating partnership issues the additional operating partnership units or other partnership interests to all partners holding operating partnership units or other partnership interests in the same class or series in proportion to their respective percentage interests in that class or series.

Preemptive Rights

        Except to the extent expressly granted by our operating partnership in an agreement other than the partnership agreement, no person or entity, including any partner of our operating partnership, has any preemptive, preferential or other similar right with respect to:

•

additional capital contributions or loans to our operating partnership; or



•

the issuance or sale of any operating partnership units or other partnership interests.

Amendment of Partnership Agreement

        Amendments to the partnership agreement may be proposed by us, as general partner, or by any limited partner holding partnership interests representing 25% or more of the percentage interest (as defined in the partnership agreement) entitled to vote thereon. In general, the partnership agreement may be amended only with the approval of the general partner and the consent of the partners holding partnership interests representing more than 50% of the percentage interests (as defined by the partnership agreement) entitled to vote thereon. However, as general partner, we will have the power, without the consent of the limited partners, to amend the partnership agreement as may be required:

•

to add to our obligations as general partner or surrender any right or power granted to us as general partner or any affiliate of ours for the benefit of the limited partners;



•

to reflect the admission, substitution, termination or withdrawal of partners in compliance with the partnership agreement;



•

to set forth the designations, rights, powers, duties and preferences of the holders of any additional partnership interests issued in accordance with the authority granted to us as general partner;



•

to reflect a change that does not adversely affect the limited partners in any material respect, or to cure any ambiguity, correct or supplement any provision in the partnership agreement not inconsistent with law or with other provisions of the partnership agreement, or make other changes with respect to matters arising under the partnership agreement that will not be inconsistent with law or with the provisions of the partnership agreement; and



•

to satisfy any requirements, conditions or guidelines contained in any order, directive, opinion, ruling or regulation of a federal, state or local agency or contained in federal, state or local law.

        The approval of a majority of the partnership interests held by limited partners other than us is necessary to amend provisions regarding, among other things:

•

the issuance of partnership interests in general and the restrictions imposed on the issuance of additional partnership interests to us in particular;



•

the prohibition against removing us as general partner by the limited partners;



•

restrictions on our power to conduct businesses other than owning partnership interests of our operating partnership and the relationship of our shares to operating partnership units;



•

limitations on transactions with affiliates;



•

our liability as general partner for monetary or other damages to our operating partnership;

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partnership consent requirements for the sale or other disposition of substantially all the assets of our operating partnership; or



•

the transfer of partnership interests held by us or the dissolution of our operating partnership.

        Any amendment of the provision of the partnership agreement which allows the voluntary dissolution of our operating partnership before December 31, 2054 can be made only with the consent of the partners holding partnership interest representing 90% or more of the percentage interest (as defined in the partnership agreement) entitled to vote thereon, including partnership interests held by us.

        Amendments to the partnership agreement that would, among other things:

•

convert a limited partner's interest into a general partner's interest;



•

modify the limited liability of a limited partner;



•

alter the interest of a partner in profits or losses, or the right to receive any distributions, except as permitted under the partnership agreement with respect to the admission of new partners or the issuance of additional operating partnership units; or



•

materially alter the unit redemption right of the limited partners,

must be approved by each limited partner or any assignee who is a bona fide financial institution that loans money or otherwise extends credit to a holder of operating partnership units or partnership interests that would be adversely affected by the amendment.

Tax Matters

        Pursuant to the partnership agreement, the general partner is the tax matters partner of our operating partnership. Accordingly, through our role as the general partner of the operating partnership, we have authority to make tax elections under the Code on behalf of our operating partnership, and to take such other actions as permitted under the partnership agreement.

Term

        Our operating partnership will continue until dissolved upon the first to occur of any of the following:

•

an event of our withdrawal, as the general partner, (other than an event of bankruptcy), unless within 90 days after the withdrawal, the written consent of the outside limited partners, as defined in the partnership agreement, to continue the business of our operating partnership and to the appointment, effective as of the date of withdrawal, of a substitute general partner is obtained;



•

through December 31, 2054, an election to dissolve the operating partnership by us, as general partner, with the consent of the partners holding partnership interests representing 90% of the percentage interest (as defined in the partnership agreement) of the interests entitled to vote thereon (including operating partnership units held by us);



•

an election to dissolve the operating partnership by us, as general partner, in our sole and absolute discretion after December 31, 2054;



•

entry of a decree of judicial dissolution of our operating partnership pursuant to Delaware law;



•

the sale of all or substantially all of the assets and properties of our operating partnership for cash or for marketable securities; or



•

entry of a final and non-appealable judgment by a court of competent jurisdiction ruling that we are bankrupt or insolvent, or entry of a final and non-appealable order for relief against us,

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under any federal or state bankruptcy or insolvency laws, unless prior to or at the time of the entry of such judgment or order, the written consent of the outside limited partners, as defined in our partnership agreement, to continue the business of our operating partnership and to the appointment, effective as of a date prior to the date of such order or judgment, of a substitute general partner is obtained.

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

        We may sell the securities from time to time in one or more transactions, including block transactions and transactions on the NYSE or on a delayed or continuous basis, in each case, through:

•

through underwriters or dealers;



•

through agents;



•

directly to one or more purchasers, including our affiliates;



•

directly to shareholders;



•

through a combination of any of these methods of sale; or



•

in any other manner, as provided in the applicable prospectus supplement.

        The securities may be sold at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed, or at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices relating to the prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices. The consideration may be cash or another form negotiated by the parties. Agents, underwriters or broker-dealers may be paid compensation for offering and selling the securities. That compensation may be in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions to be received from us or from the purchasers of the securities.

        For each offering of common shares, preferred shares, depositary shares, or debt securities, the prospectus supplement or other offering materials will describe the specific plan, including:

•

the terms of the offering and the specific plan of distribution;



•

the name or names of any underwriters, dealers, agents or direct purchasers;



•

the purchase price of the securities;



•

any delayed delivery arrangements;



•

any commissions paid to agents and any underwriting discounts, commissions or other items constituting underwriters' compensation;



•

any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers; and



•

any other applicable terms of the specific offering.

        If we use underwriters for a sale of securities, the underwriters may offer and sell the securities at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed, or from time to time at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices related to such prevailing market prices, at negotiated prices or under delayed delivery contracts or other contractual commitments. We also may, from time to time, authorize underwriters acting as agents to offer and sell the securities upon the terms and conditions set forth in any prospectus supplement. Underwriters may sell the securities to or through dealers, and such dealers may receive compensation in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions (which may be changed from time to time) from the underwriters and/or from the purchasers for whom they may act as agent.

        Offers to purchase the securities may be solicited by agents designated by us from time to time. Any such agent involved in the offer or sale of the securities will be named, and any commissions payable by the Company to such agent will be set forth in the prospectus supplement. Unless otherwise indicated in the prospectus supplement, any such agent will be acting on a best efforts basis for the

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period of its appointment. Any such agent may be deemed to be an underwriter, as that term is defined in the Securities Act, of the securities so offered and sold.

        We may from time to time engage a firm to act as our agent for one or more offerings of our securities. We sometimes refer to this agent as our "offering agent." If we reach agreement with an offering agent with respect to a specific offering, including the number of securities and any minimum price below which sales may not be made, then the offering agent will try to sell such securities on the agreed terms. The offering agent could make sales in privately negotiated transactions and/or any other method permitted by law, including sales deemed to be an "at-the-market" offering as defined in Rule 415 promulgated under the Securities Act, including sales made directly on the NYSE, or sales made to or through a market maker other than on an exchange. The offering agent will be deemed to be an "underwriter" within the meaning of the Securities Act with respect to any sales effected through an "at-the-market" offering.

        If an underwriter or underwriters are utilized in the sale of securities, we will execute an underwriting agreement with such underwriter or underwriters at the time an agreement for such sale is reached, and the names of the specific managing underwriter or underwriters, as well as any other underwriters, and the terms of the transactions, including compensation of the underwriters and dealers, if any, will be set forth in the prospectus supplement, which will be used by the underwriters to resell the securities.

        If a dealer is utilized in the sale of the securities, we will sell such securities to the dealer, as principal. The dealer may then resell such securities to the public at varying prices to be determined by such dealer at the time of resale. The name of the dealer and the terms of the transactions will be set forth in the prospectus supplement relating thereto.

        Offers to purchase the securities may be solicited directly by us and sales thereof may be made by us directly to institutional investors or others. The terms of any such sales, including the terms of any bidding or auction prices, if utilized, will be described in the prospectus supplement relating thereto.

        Some or all of the securities that we offer through this prospectus may be new issues of securities with no established trading market. Any underwriters to whom we sell securities for public offering and sale may make a market in those securities, but they will not be obligated to and they may discontinue any market making at any time without notice. Accordingly, we cannot assure you of the liquidity of, or continued trading markets for, any securities offered pursuant to this prospectus. If we use dealers in the sale, we will sell securities to those dealers as principals. The dealers may then resell the securities to the public at any market price or other prices to be determined by the dealers at the time of resale. If we use agents in the sale, unless we inform you otherwise in the prospectus supplement or other applicable offering materials they will use their reasonable best efforts to solicit purchasers for the period of their appointment. If we sell directly, no underwriters or agents would be involved. In the prospectus supplement or other applicable offering materials, we will name any agent involved in the offer or sale of the offered securities, and we will describe any commissions payable to the agent. We are not making an offer of securities in any state that does not permit such an offer.

        If indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, we may authorize underwriters or other persons acting as our agents to solicit offers by institutions or other suitable purchasers to purchase the securities from us at the public offering price set forth in the prospectus supplement, pursuant to delayed delivery contracts providing for payment and delivery on the date or dates stated in the prospectus supplement. These purchasers may include, among others, commercial and savings banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment companies, educational and charitable institutions and other institutions, but will in all cases be subject to our approval. Delayed delivery contracts will be subject to the condition that the purchase of the securities covered by the delayed delivery contracts will not at the time of delivery be prohibited under the laws of any jurisdiction in the United States to

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which the purchaser is subject. The underwriters and agents will not have any responsibility with respect to the validity or performance of these contracts.

        To facilitate the offering of the securities, certain persons participating in the offering may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain, or otherwise affect the price of the securities. This may include over-allotments or short sales of the securities, which involves the sale by persons participating in the offering of more securities than we sold to them. In these circumstances, these persons would cover the over-allotments or short positions by making purchases in the open market or by exercising their over-allotment option. In addition, these persons may stabilize or maintain the price of the securities by bidding for or purchasing securities in the open market or by imposing penalty bids, whereby selling concessions allowed to dealers participating in the offering may be reclaimed if securities sold by them are repurchased in connection with stabilization transactions. The effect of these transactions may be to stabilize or maintain the market price of the securities at a level above that which might otherwise prevail in the open market. These transactions may be discontinued at any time.

        Underwriters, dealers and agents participating in the distribution of the securities may be deemed to be underwriters, and any discounts and commissions received by them from us or from purchasers of the securities and any profit realized by them on resale of the securities may be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act. If such dealers or agents were deemed to be underwriters, they may be subject to statutory liabilities under the Securities Act. Underwriters, dealers and agents may be entitled, under agreements entered into with us, to indemnification against and contribution toward certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.

        In the ordinary course of business, we may engage in transactions with underwriters, dealers, agents and their affiliates and they may perform services for us.

LEGAL MATTERS

        The legality of any shares offered by this prospectus will be passed upon for us by Venable LLP. In addition, we have based the description of federal income tax consequences in "Federal Income Tax Consequences of Our Status as a REIT" upon the opinion of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC.

EXPERTS

        The consolidated financial statements and the related financial statement schedule as of December 31, 2007 and 2006 and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2007 incorporated in this Prospectus by reference from the U-Store-It Trust and subsidiaries' Current Report on Form 8-K dated December 2, 2008, and the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting have been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their reports, which are incorporated herein by reference (which reports (1) expresses an unqualified opinion and includes an explanatory paragraph relating to the reclassifications of the operations of certain storage facilities disposed of and classified as held for sale and (2) expresses an unqualified opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting). Such financial statements and financial statement schedule have been so incorporated in reliance upon the reports of such firm given upon their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.

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Table of Contents

22,000,000 Shares

Common Shares

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PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

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BofA Merrill Lynch

Wells Fargo Securities

August    , 2009

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