Realterm Acquires IOS Facility in Metro Twin Cities

Realterm, an investor specializing in transportation and logistics assets, has acquired 2340 Rose Place W. in Roseville, Minn., a northern suburb of the Twin Cities with close access to I-35W. The property, which traded for an unspecified price, is an industrial outdoor storage fleet maintenance and intermodal facility on 6.3 acres.

2340 Rose Place W. is occupied by Forward Intermodal, a division of Forward Air Corp., which acquired BarOle Trucking, the largest intermodal freight carrier in the Twin Cities Metro area, in 2021. The company provides services in the U.S. and Canada.

Developed in 2021 by BarOle, the property includes five oversized drive-in doors, four dock-high loading positions, and a two-story, 7,300-square-foot office component. It has a large container/trailer parking capacity, a fully paved and fenced lot, and industrial-grade floor drains and waste traps.

The deal represents Realterm’s third foray into the Twin Cities market, which Stephen Panos, Realterm managing director and senior fund manager, says has robust user and investor interest. Currently RealTerm has about $11 billion in assets under management.

The company is also no stranger to the IOS market, having acquired three industrial outdoor storage truck terminals near Boston, Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., last year. The facilities were part of trucking company Yellow Corp.’s 2023 Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Also in 2023, Realterm raised $532 million as part of a $1.2 billion recapitalization of a national 61-asset IOS portfolio. In 2022, Realterm closed its Realterm Logistics Fund IV after raising $630 million in commitments.

IOS gains ground as niche play

The industrial outdoor storage sector is a sought-after industrial niche, attracting increasingly more institutional investors in recent years, according to a 2024 report by Colliers. Citing PwC data, the report notes that overall, U.S. IOS is a $200 billion market.

The distinguishing characteristics of IOS is its large outdoor component, which is typically used for storage, heavy industrial uses, or truck and vehicle parking, and its close access to highways. The properties typically devote less than 20 percent of their space for structures. Most IOS sites are only a few acres, but some outlying assets measure more than 50 acres

Even as investors gain interest in the property type, some municipalities are losing interest in them, Colliers notes. Thus, the existing stock might benefit in terms of valuation, as development of new assets is restrained.