The growth of e-commerce has increased demand for warehouse space exponentially, but one subset of that real estate sector is really heating up. Cold storage warehouses and distribution centers are suddenly in high demand thanks to new food delivery services such as Peapod by Giant, Amazon Fresh and Blue Apron."It is very niche.
It's not just the delivery services driving demand, but farm-to-table and organic trends. Fewer preservatives in food require more cold storage. While mainstream warehouse construction is growing, there is still a very limited supply of cold storage real estate, which makes it that much more valuable. The supply is also on the older side, about 34 years old on average, according to CBRE.
Americold is the only publicly traded temperature-controlled warehouse owner in the U.S. today. Since it went public last year, its stock is on fire.