GreenPoint Aims for $500M IOS Portfolio

GreenPoint Partners is launching a platform specializing in industrial outdoor storage facilities for trucks and trailers, aiming for a $500M portfolio.

The company is partnering with Semi-Stow, a truck and trailer storage operator based in Austin, to operate the facilities in GreenPoint’s portfolio. The venture has made its first two acquisitions, IOS facilities in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth with a total capacity of more than 1,000 semis and trailers.

“Truck parking and trailer storage is a key component of the logistics and e-commerce value chain and a sector where innovation has historically been limited,” said Chris Green, GreenPoint CEO, in a statement.

What they used to call “back-office” properties, industrial outdoor storage (IOS) space is now a $200-billion asset class that’s firmly on the radar of institutional investors. The demand for the diminishing number of IOS lots, clustered around US cities, that are zoned to permit outdoor storage skyrocketed in 2022, when warehouse space was tight in many major markets.

IOS lots are being used as storage facilities supporting e-commerce, infrastructure, construction and logistics businesses, storing everything from equipment and vehicles to stacks of containers. They’re typically zoned to restrict any building from covering more than 25 percent of the property. Rental prices are set by the acre instead of per SF.

Industrial market experts believe that the IOS market, currently a highly fragmented segment largely devoid of institutional ownership, is on its way to becoming a major asset class for institutional investors, with a growth trajectory that could match the rise of BFR in housing.

“They’re not creating more land for outside storage. In most cities, nobody wants to see more outside storage,” Rob Kossar, vice chairman at JLL who oversees the company’s industrial division in the Northeast, told GlobeSt.

“It’s zoned out everywhere, so wherever it exists, it’s super-valuable. That’s why institutional investors have suddenly woken up (to IOS),” Kossar said.

In 2022, Catalyst Investment Partners acquired 23 industrial outdoor storage properties across eight markets in the eastern US.

In November, Catalyst said its two IOS funds, Catalyst IOS Fund I and II, are aiming to invest $500M in IOS properties in the US in 2023. The company’s strategy centers on infill properties with access to ports and highway corridors.

Trailer storage became a critical priority near congested ports in Southern California during H1 2022. The state partnered with online on-demand warehouse marketplace Chunker to create six pop-up logistics hubs on state land to help ease the container congestion at backed up ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach.