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-chain 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 RD Instruction 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. More than 4,000 feasibility studies completed across all 50 states and internationally, evaluating $40.2 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.
+1 310-857-2443 ext. 800 · email · 1968 South Coast Hwy, Ste 2382, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 · 111 Town Square Pl Ste 1238 PMB 657834, Jersey City, NJ 07310 · 539 W. Commerce St #8486, Dallas, TX 75208
Schedule a ConversationIndependent feasibility studies since 1998 — 4,000+ engagements, $40.2 billion in evaluated project value. Standard delivery in 10 to 15 business days. Fiduciary duty to the lender and agency.