Institutional Capital Pushes Industrial Outdoor Storage Investment to $16 Billion

Data center developers now account for a fifth of new demand for truck yards and equipment lots, offsetting a prolonged downturn in the trucking sector.

By the Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk·Thursday, September 10, 2026·2 min read

Editorial summary of reporting byBisnow Our editorial standards →

The answer · checked against Bisnow

How big is the industrial outdoor storage market and what is driving institutional investment into it?

Institutional capital now accounts for 45% of industrial outdoor storage investment, up from 30% four years ago, according to Matthews' latest report. IOS investment reached $14B to $16B in 2025, a 15% increase from the prior year, with data center developers representing approximately 20% of new demand for truck yards and equipment lots, offsetting weakness in the trucking sector.

Key facts

Institutional capital represents 45% of IOS investment, up from 30% four years ago, according to Matthews' latest report.
IOS investment reached $14B to $16B in 2025, an increase of 15% from the prior year, according to Matthews data.
Realterm and Starwood Property Trust completed a record $672M deal in August, refinancing a 78-property portfolio encompassing 830 acres across 33 U.S. markets.
Data center developers make up about 20% of new demand for IOS, according to Max Heiden, co-founder and partner of Catalyst Investment Partners.
Nationwide IOS rents hit $11.07 per SF per month in the second quarter, a 1.6% year-over-year rise, with vacancy at 3.6% nationally versus 6.5% for industrial overall, according to CBRE's Q2 IOS report.
Clarion Partners funded a 2.3M SF IOS portfolio in March 2025, according to the source.

Institutional Capital Pushes Industrial Outdoor Storage Investment to $16 Billion — Image: editorial illustration · Story sourced from Bisnow

Industrial outdoor storage drew between $14 billion and $16 billion in investment in 2025, a 15% increase from the prior year, according to Matthews. Deal activity in 2026 is projected to outpace last year's volume.

Institutional capital now accounts for 45% of investment in the sector, up from 30% four years ago, Matthews said. A record $672 million transaction between Realterm and Starwood Property Trust in August refinanced a 78-property portfolio spanning 830 acres across 33 U.S. markets.

Data center developers have emerged as a significant source of demand, using the lots for construction staging and heavy equipment storage. They make up about 20% of new IOS demand, said Max Heiden, co-founder and partner of Catalyst Investment Partners. Tech companies including Google, Microsoft and Meta have acquired sites to support data center projects. Meta opened a $1.2 billion data center in Idaho on an assemblage that included industrial outdoor storage.

The shift comes as the trucking industry, which parks large fleets on IOS properties, weathers a prolonged contraction. Rising diesel prices and a labor shortage have strained carriers, said Matt Hunsucker, founder of IOS List. The Trump administration has tightened enforcement on immigrant truck drivers and shut down about 300 driving schools, including more than 100 whose graduates could not meet English-proficiency standards. The crackdown has created a driver shortage and longer service wait times, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Nationwide IOS rents reached $11.07 per square foot per month in the second quarter, a 1.6% year-over-year increase, according to CBRE. Vacancy remains at 3.6% nationally, compared with 6.5% for industrial properties overall.

Core-plus investors have entered the market over the past 18 months. Clarion Partners funded a 2.3 million-square-foot portfolio in March 2025. Stockbridge Partners invested in a Texas portfolio in October. Apex IOS, backed by Clarion, acquired property in Jacksonville earlier this year. Portfolio sales are forecast to double in 2026 from 2025 levels, with new records expected in deal size, Heiden said.

Some operators have reported modest contractions in their lots as carriers adjust to smaller workforces. The benefits of the data center boom are expected to continue, Heiden said. Companies updating transmission lines to meet growing power needs may seek to store large spools of wire, and equipment rental firms could also increase demand. Blake Rodgers, principal at Steel Peak, an investment firm that acquires and manages IOS properties, said industrial outdoor storage remains one of the more active niches in real estate.

The Deployment Angle

Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk · our analysis, not the source's

The co-GP route favours operators with dual tenant bases — trucking fleets on short-term leases paired with data center contractors on multi-year staging agreements. A family office writing a $10 million to $25 million cheque alongside a sponsor like Realterm or Steel Peak gains exposure to both demand drivers while the manager handles tenant churn and site permitting. The August Realterm-Starwood refinancing, which spanned 78 properties and 830 acres, implies an average site size of roughly 10 acres and a per-acre refinancing value in the low seven figures. That scale allows for diversification across metros without the operational burden of direct ownership.

Direct acquisition through a programmatic joint venture makes sense in data center construction corridors where staging demand is visible for three to five years. Northern Virginia, Phoenix and Atlanta have multi-gigawatt pipelines that will require contractor laydown yards, wire storage and equipment depots. A family office can underwrite data center tenant credit and lease duration more reliably than trucking fleet turnover. Price the downside case as pure trucking demand at the $11.07 per square foot per month national rent, then layer in staging premiums of 20% to 30% where hyperscale buildouts are confirmed.

The deployment risk is timing the trucking cycle. Vacancy at 3.6% nationally leaves little margin if immigration enforcement continues to shrink the driver pool and carriers cancel leases faster than data center demand absorbs space. The 1.6% year-over-year rent growth in the second quarter is anaemic for a sector with institutional capital inflows up 50% in four years. A family office entering now should structure purchase options or forward commitments tied to data center construction milestones rather than committing capital on trailing trucking fundamentals.

Avoid blind-pool exposure through commingled funds. The sector's appeal rests on site-specific data center pipelines and local trucking density, neither of which translates to a portfolio strategy. A separate account or a two-asset programmatic JV in a single metro gives the principal control over tenant mix and the ability to exit if the data center pipeline stalls or diesel costs spike further. The Matthews projection that deal activity will outpace 2025 levels suggests pricing has not yet reflected the trucking downturn — patient capital can wait for motivated sellers in Q3 or Q4 2026.

Questions this story answers

01How large is the industrial outdoor storage investment market and how fast is it growing?

IOS investment reached $14B to $16B in 2025, an increase of 15% from the prior year, according to Matthews data. Deal activity in 2026 is projected to outpace 2025, and Max Heiden, co-founder and partner of Catalyst Investment Partners, forecasts twice as many portfolio sales this year as there were in 2025, with new records set in deal size.

02Why are data centers driving demand for industrial outdoor storage?

Data center developers use IOS lots for construction staging and to store heavy equipment and building materials, according to the source. Data center developers make up about 20% of new demand for IOS, according to Max Heiden of Catalyst Investment Partners. Tech giants including Google and Microsoft have invested in IOS sites to advance their data center plans.

03What is the vacancy rate for industrial outdoor storage compared to industrial overall?

IOS vacancy stands at 3.6% nationally, versus 6.5% for industrial overall, according to CBRE's Q2 IOS report. Nationwide IOS rents hit $11.07 per SF per month in the second quarter, a 1.6% year-over-year rise, according to the same report.

04How is the trucking industry downturn affecting industrial outdoor storage demand?

The trucking industry faces a labor shortage, high diesel prices, and an industry-level recession, with some carriers canceling parking leases as the market adjusts to smaller workforces, which may soften IOS demand. Cary Goldman, founder and manager of Timber Hill Group, said his firm is seeing very modest contractions in its lots but characterized this as showing the resilience of the business.

05Which institutional investors have recently entered the industrial outdoor storage space?

Clarion Partners funded a 2.3M SF IOS portfolio in March 2025, Stockbridge Partners invested in a Texas portfolio in October, and Apex IOS, backed by Clarion, acquired property in Jacksonville early this year, according to the source. Blake Rodgers, principal at Steel Peak, said core-plus money has begun to enter the IOS space.

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