Cold Storage Real Estate Brokerage

A dry industrial building is priced on location, clear height, dock count, and condition of the roof. A refrigerated building is priced on all of that plus the condition and remaining life of the refrigeration plant, the integrity of the insulated envelope, whether the freezer slab has working heave protection, whether the electrical service can carry the load the next tenant will impose, and whether the facility holds the licences its intended use requires.

Those five items routinely move value by more than location does. A generalist broker is not equipped to assess them and will typically defer them to a consultant after an offer is already on the table, which is the expensive moment to discover a plant needs replacing.

Five things, in order of how badly they can hurt you. First, the age and condition of the refrigeration plant, and who pays to replace it: a plant replacement is a seven-figure event and cold storage leases are not consistent about where that obligation sits. Second, the energy cost pass-through mechanism, because refrigeration power can exceed the base rent. Third, the actual achievable temperature in each zone, verified rather than stated.

Fourth, the under-floor heave protection on any freezer space, and whether it is currently energised. Fifth, the building’s licensing and certification status against what your product actually requires. Our lease structures guide covers the rent and energy mechanics in detail.

A lease on an existing, licensed, well-documented building typically runs 60 to 90 days from first tour to occupancy. A purchase runs 90 to 150 days, and the variable is almost always technical diligence rather than financing or legal work: refrigeration plant assessment, envelope inspection, floor testing, and electrical capacity verification take real time and cannot be usefully rushed.

Sale-leasebacks and build-to-suit arrangements run longer because the lease is being negotiated in parallel with the transaction rather than after it.

Compressor hours and service history, condenser and evaporator condition, refrigerant charge and leak history, control system age and whether parts are still available, insulation condition on the piping, and the safety systems, which for an ammonia plant means the detection, ventilation, and emergency response provisions that regulators actually inspect.

The output is a remaining-life estimate and a replacement cost, which is what you need in order to price the building. Our due diligence checklist sets out the full scope.

Yes, and this is the main reason the brokerage and the general contractor sit in the same firm. If diligence surfaces a plant at end of life, a floor that needs remediation, or a conversion the building will need in year two, the same team that identified it can scope it, price it, and build it.

That also means the number you negotiate against during the deal is a real construction estimate rather than an allowance, because the people producing it are the people who will have to stand behind it.

Both, on separate mandates. Most of our tenant and buyer work is requirement-led (a specific temperature profile, throughput, and geography), and a meaningful share of it ends up as a build-to-suit rather than an existing building, because Canadian cold storage vacancy is low enough that the right building frequently does not exist yet.