Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA RD Instruction 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. More than 4,000 studies since 1998 covering $40.2 billion in evaluated project value.
Cold storage feasibility is contracted-throughput analysis under demanding capital costs. The study evaluates the food-production and import volumes within the service radius, the committed or probable anchor tenancy the revenue model depends on, pallet-position pricing against regional supply, and the power and refrigeration economics that dominate the operating statement. Speculative cold storage receives conservative treatment: the national pipeline has taught lenders to demand demonstrated demand, and the study tests the project against that standard.
Methodology draws on USDA and port-volume food-flow data, regional pallet-position supply and pricing surveys, utility-rate analysis for the refrigeration load, and RSMeans-based budgets for insulated construction. The model presents anchor-committed and merchant pallet revenue separately, stress-tested to the program standard.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Cold-chain projects are financed under USDA B&I for rural food-system assets, SBA 504 for owner-operators, and conventional structures; the firm prepares the study to the corresponding compliance standard.
Representative engagements include a $33,656,250 cold-chain logistics engagement and cold-storage feasibility within the firm's USDA-compliant practice. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
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