The disease and the constant increase in demand for it in stores increased the need for cold care. Now, this trend is changing the numbers involved in the development of cold storage programs.
It is expensive to build cold shelters, costing from $ 250 to $ 350 per sq. Km. ft. compared to $ 100 per sq. ft. So, historically, it hasn’t been a pretty game to a wide range of publishers and developers.
In fact, most ice cream parlors have built in history, owned and operated by a small group of cold -storage REITs, such as Americold Realty Trust, and third -party, real estate agents. to public (PRW), such as Lineage Logistics, Agile Cold Storage and NewCold.
But with the disease accelerating online store sales in 12 to 18 months and the reopening of U.S. restaurants and bars, the demand for leaving the cold, with the average government vacancy falling from 4.7 percent to 3.8 percent above. the past 12 months. As a result, these other types of assets seek more equity and business capital. For example, the most recent Investor Intentions Survey from the financial services firm CBRE showed the proportion of investors seeking cold storage from 7.0 percent in 2019 to 22.0 percent in 2021.
“The cold storage area is controlled by the homeowners, but the number of investors who are attracted to this type of niche property is changing,” said Mark Russo, director of research at the service industry. property of Savills North America. Investors were impressed by the high return of the unit, he said, and the opportunity to convert to an asset rather than traditional assets. Russo expects competition among investors to raise prices higher than next year.
Over the past 12 months, the budget for cold storage development has been about 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent of the yield on cost (YOC), and the dry store will provide the average. between 5.00 percent and 6.0 percent, according to Dallas-based Dustin Volz, senior executive with JLL Capital Markets. “Right now, for cold storage, the spread is more or less the same as 6.0-7.5 percent YOC,” he said, but added that the increase in rents is twice as much. which is paid for dry storage, to maintain strength.
In the past, investors have come to cold storage looking to develop and obtain crops, Volz said, in order to keep the cold used in the market. a large flat in a dry place. But he noted that the spread has continued, and investors in the district are now more like those looking at traditional business properties. Investors in cold storage now have access to independent equities, consultants, treasurers and stock market managers.
Sales of cold storage units increased during the illness, but the supply of goods for sale remained stable, according to Matthew Walaszek, director of technology research. and logistics with CBRE. Explain why cold storage sales accelerated in 2020, from $ 2.7 billion in 2019 to $ 3.5 billion, according to Real Capital Analytics (RCA), and then fell again. to about $ 2.5 billion last year.
Another newcomer to the unit is property mogul Sam Zell of Equity Group Investments, which owns an undisclosed plot of land in the East Coast Warehouse, creating 72 million cubic feet of a storefront. wela.
The supply-demand gap in the cold storage sector has attracted new developers. Companies that built traditional manufacturing facilities in the area over the past 12 to 18 months and are now building cold storage systems — a new trend, according to Steve Kozarits. based in Chicago, is the senior vice president of business services and investment advice with Transwestern’s financial services industry.
He told Atlanta-based business developer Realty Link, which founded a cold storage division, and New Jersey-based Saxum Real Estate, which founded a cold storage facility and is developing projects. with other developers, such as Austin-based Yukon Industry.
Looking at the growth of cold weather after population growth, Volz found that 18 to 24 months ago, cold weather has not seen any growth in the United States. out of a 2019 project in Fort Worth by Dallas-based Southwest ColdSpot — the U.S. spec specula cold storage project. .
“Now you’ve advertised 40 speculative projects, which is a bit of an increase, because we believe some of the developers here are advertising print ads for projects. new fishing for apartment-to-suit (BTS) tenants, ”he said, adding that the actual specification programs built are likely to be in the 15th to 20th century.
The explosion in the development of cold storage is not only due to the current lack of supply, but also the demand for tenants for new buildings. Russo estimates it has 210 million sq. Km. ft. only the vast majority of the U.S. cold storage, and most of them are treasures 30 to 40 years old, with elevations no more than 30 feet.
Elevations of 50 to 80 feet and above, modern cooling technology and better performance systems are the features of today’s seekers in cold storage facilities, such as Volz.
Kozarits said high -tech tools to improve efficiency and reduce human labor demands are growing rapidly among employers due to current employment problems. He introduces a new design system, where buildings up to 80 feet in height are built around the inner shell from the outside, with automation and robotic technology, so that pallets can be stored. in small areas, reducing maintenance and labor. koina. He hopes that when the dry shop community sees the benefits of this initiative, they will take it too.
Consumers are looking for ways to increase their sales and improve delivery times, consumers are moving with Whole Foods, HEB, Kroger and others into types of automated devices described by Kozartis, Volz note.
Kroger, for example, has teamed up with Ocado, a high -tech, cold storage provider with an automated racking system, to build 20 high -end robotic stores in the country. Ocado’s customer service centers fill out digital orders for one -day delivery and the next day.
“We’re probably in the early stages of getting into e-commerce,” Russo said. “This segment has been plagued by disease and continues to occupy a large portion of the market, which will increase demand for cold storage facilities near major U.S. centers.”