By Deborah Smith, co-founder and CEO, The CenterCap Group Industrial outdoor storage (IOS) may have once been an obscure abbreviation, but this subcategory of industrial real estate has now emerged as an intriguing and evolving niche product. Much like single-family rentals (SFR) and self-storage, the asset class still has some way to go before becoming fully institutionalized, but its increasing importance in last-mile distribution makes it a topic worth discussing and placing on investors’ radars. At a high level, IOS properties serve as essential storage facilities for large equipment, vehicles and materials and are often located near transportation hubs, highway corridors and ports of entry. Among other things, these facilities exist to provide secondary storage capacity for logistics operators. So What Is IOS?IOS properties are not the kinds of glamorous properties that commercial investors typically pay much attention to, as they are outdoors and not always aesthetically pleasing to look at. At a basic level, these sites are low-coverage industrial land, generally in the three- to 20-acre range. Buildings typically comprise zero to 20 percent of the site. The property type’s primary value comes from the outside storage capabilities of the excess yard. IOS facilities feature a significantly lower floor …
