The first warehouses in the United States rose from the ground in the second half of the nineteenth century. Thanks to the emergence of internet-powered e-commerce over the last two decades, demand for warehouse space by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers has caused a building boom. By some estimates, there were approximately 50 percent more warehouses in the U.S. in 2023 (approximately 22,000) than there were in 2007 (approximately 14,600).

But not all warehouses are the same. Cold storage warehouses (“CSWs”) are emerging as an important category of warehouses because an increasing number of products need to be stored and shipped at low temperatures to avoid spoiling or loss of efficacy. Food, prescription drugs, vaccines, cosmetics, and chemicals are just a few of the kinds of products that must be stored in CSWs to ensure they arrive to their purchasers in a saleable or consumable condition.

The global market for cold storage reached nearly $120 billion in 2022 and is expected to continue growing at a compound annual growth rate of 17.5% through 2030. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there were 3.70 billion cubic feet of refrigerated storage capacity in the U.S. as of Oct. 1, 2023. This number is expected to increase over time—a report from CBRE found an 11-fold increase in the number of speculative square feet of cold storage in development from 2019 to 2022.