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Ports · Industrial outdoor storage
Industrial outdoor storage in 2026: a priced asset class, not an arbitrage
Industrial outdoor storage reached roughly $218 billion in market value in 2026, with stabilized institutional-quality assets trading at cap rates of 6.00% to 6.75% in primary markets and 6.75% to 7.75% in secondary markets — a spread of 25 to 75 basis points over comparable industrial. Primary-market rents run $5,000 to $15,000 per acre per month. The arbitrage has closed. The aggregation opportunity has not, because 65% to 75% of properties remain privately owned.
Key takeaways
- Market value reached roughly $218 billion in 2026, from about $200 billion in 2025, with transaction volume of $14 to $16 billion in 2025, up 15% to 20% on 2024.
- Rent growth is decelerating, from roughly 8% to 10% in 2024 to 7% to 9% in 2025 to a forecast 6% to 8% in 2026. But industrial outdoor storage rents are still up 123% since 2020 against 58% for bulk warehouses.
- Duration has institutionalized. Lease terms moved from two to three years in 2023 to four to six years, and weighted average lease term from 2.5 years in 2022 to more than 4.5 years.
- Supply cannot respond. New deliveries run under 2% of inventory annually and the development pipeline is only 3% to 5% of existing inventory, constrained by zoning and entitlement. New inventory has been estimated as low as 0.2% annually.
- Institutional capital is now 35% to 45% of acquisitions, up from 25% to 30% four years ago. The average transaction is about $6 million on a typical one-to-fifteen-acre site, and 75% of inventory has not traded in five years.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
Who is buying
Alterra IOS has acquired more than 470 sites nationally and financed aggressively through 2026, with a $100 million BMO credit facility on 15 January 2026, a $244 million loan from Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies on 5 June 2026, and a $400 million Truist and KeyBank refinancing on 13 July 2026, following $189 million from Blackstone Mortgage Trust in February 2025 and $900 million raised for purchases. Zenith IOS holds roughly 100 properties at about $1.2 billion and partnered with J.P. Morgan Asset Management twice in 2026. Peakstone Realty Trust bought a 51-property, 14-state portfolio from Alterra and J.P. Morgan Asset Management for $490 million. Realterm paid $277 million for a 13-site portfolio from Brookfield. Catalyst Investment Partners recapitalized 18 properties at $163.5 million. The Houston Ship Channel and La Porte submarket is the leading edge of the current boom.
Ports are building their own competing supply
The Port of Los Angeles is developing an 80-acre chassis parking and container drop facility on Terminal Island. Georgia Ports operates a 90-acre Savannah Transload Facility rated at 400,000 TEU a year. South Carolina Ports runs on-terminal transload at Wando Welch and owns its own SMART Pool chassis fleet with GPS tracking and on-terminal repair. That captive supply is the reason location — genuine port or rail adjacency rather than merely industrial zoning near a port — is what holds pricing.
Drayage, because it sets the radius
2026 rate bands run $250 to $450 per container under 25 miles, $300 to $800 for 25 to 50 miles, and $600 to $1,300 for 50 to 150 miles, with short legs at $3 to $5 per mile. Most United States port drayage inside 50 miles falls in the $250 to $800 band, with a published market average of roughly $590 for a 20-mile Houston move. Los Angeles and Long Beach and New York and New Jersey run at the high end; Charleston and Jacksonville at the low end. The variance that actually hits a pro forma is accessorial: wait time billed hourly after one to two hours, missed appointments and pre-pulls.
Savannah’s July 2026 truck turn times are the best public benchmark for underwriting a drayage cycle at 31 minutes for a single container and 51 minutes for a dual move, after the $126 million Brampton Road Connector opened on 15 July 2026 running directly from Garden City Terminal Gate 3 to Interstate 16.
No fee. One parcel. One page. Usually back within five business days.
A quarterly brief on powered land, port capacity and air-cargo gateways, plus the Powered Land and Gateway Pricing Benchmarks data file.
- Dollar per megawatt and dollar per acre benchmarks by market, with the substation-distance and voltage premiums applied
- Every committed United States port capacity opening from 2026 through 2035, with cost, TEU and date
- Airport-adjacent rent premiums by gateway, and the constraint map that drives them
- The named project pipeline: site, megawatts, developer, power source, status
- Sources and periods for every cell. Nothing unattributed.
This research was produced by Landside Partners, a commercial real estate research and advisory firm working with owners of industrial land across North America on data center, seaport and air-cargo demand. To have a specific parcel assessed, contact Brad Cohen at Landside Partners.
Related research
- Ports — Pillar: committed, funded and dated US gateway capacity and near-port industrial pricing, Q2 2026.
- Global Port Projects — Atlas of global port megaprojects by region, with European H1 2026 throughput.
- Data Centers — Pillar: US data center demand, vacancy and the pipeline that has to find land, Q2 2026.
- Air Cargo — Pillar: airport-adjacent industrial metrics and cargo gateway rent premiums, Q2 2026.
- Markets — Index of the twelve covered metros with each market's headline figure, Q2 2026.
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