Purpose-built, power-hungry, and contract-dependent: cold storage is industrial real estate underwritten like an operating business.
A cold storage facility is a machine wearing a building: refrigeration capacity, rack design, dock configuration, and power infrastructure define what the asset can earn, and the envelope’s specialization makes it quintessential special-purpose property under SOP 50 10 8. The demand case is logistics-driven — food production, import flows, grocery distribution within the service radius — and the revenue case is contractual: committed throughput and storage agreements convert demand from thesis to collateral.
Energy is the expense story. Refrigeration makes power the second-largest operating line, which puts utility rates and the facility’s efficiency design directly into the coverage math — EIA regional electricity data anchors the assumption — and makes the technical dimension’s equipment review more consequential than in any dry-warehouse credit. Commissioning risk deserves explicit schedule treatment: a cold building that opens late strands contracted throughput.
Our cold storage feasibility study consultant practice spans dedicated facilities and cold components inside larger logistics projects, with liquidation analysis reflecting the honest answer for specialized envelopes — recovery as a cold facility to a cold operator, at cold-market depth, not as generic warehouse space — and contract concentration analyzed the way revenue concentration always should be: customer by customer.
Engagements are typically initiated by the borrower, with lender or CDC confirmation obtained before work begins — institutions apply differing rules, so sponsors should confirm the required path with their lending contact — and are delivered in 10 to 15 business days from complete project data, and built to the program framework that governs the credit — SBA SOP 50 10 8 coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global, the 37-factor structure of USDA 7 CFR Part 5001, or the 1.20x convention of conventional credit policy — with a ten-year pro forma, sensitivity at ±5/10/15 percent, rate stress to +3.0 percent, and Monte Carlo analysis as standard equipment.
President, Wert-Berater, Inc. — independent feasibility study consultants since 1998. 4,000+ engagements completed across all 50 states and internationally, evaluating $41.2 billion in project value for SBA, USDA, EB-5, conventional, and institutional financing decisions. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and agency in every engagement.
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Schedule a ConversationIndependent feasibility studies since 1998 — 4,000+ engagements, $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. Standard delivery in 10 to 15 business days. Fiduciary duty to the lender and agency.
Legal disclosure. Wert-Berater, Inc. offices are mailing addresses only. Following the COVID-19 pandemic the firm has elected to work remotely; its office locations receive mail and are not staffed for visitors or in-person meetings. Headquarters mailing address: 1968 South Coast Hwy, Ste 2382, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.
Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent provider of feasibility studies and other related services. The firm does not provide financing or equity investment advice, and does not arrange, broker, or place debt or equity capital of any kind.
All appraisal assignments are performed by Bruce E. Jones, MAI, ASA-GC, BCA, CMEA, a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2006, a staff member of Wert-Berater, Inc. and owner of Special Purpose Realty Valuation.