Truck storage and parking is an overlooked segment of the real estate industry that stands to benefit from continued supply & demand imbalances.
Truck Parking & Industrial Outdoor Storage
Use
- Truck parking
- Trailer storage
- Container & chassis storage / stacking
- Sprinter van & automobile storage
User
- Trucking & chassis companies
- Freight brokerage firms
- Ocean freight lines
- Rail carriers
- Auto or equipment auctions
Location
- Proximity to population centers
- Proximity to institutional industrial submarkets
- Proximity to transportation infrastructure
Key Attributes
- Paved or graded stone parking surface
- Large land assemblage
- Fenced, lighted, & secure
Investment Thesis
Fragmented Ownership
- Current noninstitutional ownership makeup of the majority of outdoor storage / truck parking assets
- Institutional investors along with unsophisticated owners of ISF assets have difficulty valuing/monetizing outside storage
- This allows more opportunities to source off-market at significant discounts to market value
Demand
- Institutional industrial developers continue to maximize vertical square footage driving outside storage demand higher
- New ISF asset development is limited by geography, zoning, city and taboo over trucking
- Difficult to replicate or replace – resulting in higher-than-average rent growth
Return Metrics
- Per spot rental rates = 3x-5x more income than per acre rental rates
- Higher Yields + Low Capex = Higher Realized Returns
- ISF assets are trading at 1.00-1.50% higher cap rates than traditional industrial
Future Land Use
- Target locations give the optionality to further re-develop the asset for higher and better use when growth in a formerly industrial area exceeds industrial use
- An alternative or future use of the land gives an upside potential and downside protection in this asset class as compared to other investments that are already starting at higher and better use
Truck Parking in the News
- https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15281584/house-transportation-committee-hears-a-blunt-assessment-of-the-driver-shortage
- https://www.overdriveonline.com/parking/article/15286030/the-huge-disparity-between-fleetsoperators-truck-parking-concern
- https://www.ttnews.com/articles/real-estate-firms-focus-trucking
- https://www.ttnews.com/articles/truck-parking-top-issue-drivers
- https://www.ttnews.com/articles/rural-freight-corridors-among-2739-million-grant-funding