A cold-storage building in Phoenix fails differently from a dry box. The rent can be fine and the compressors can still be at the end of their life. Lenders underwrite power service, redundancy, temperature zones, and the capital expenditure required to keep the rooms cold through a Valley summer. AZ Big Media reported that CBRE secured financing for a 285,000-square-foot cold-storage facility in Phoenix. That report is CBRE's. Capital Market Funds did not arrange it, and the figure in the headline is not our proceeds and not a quote for the next plant.
Food-distribution users care about dock positions, trailer parking, and whether the lease makes the tenant or the landlord replace the refrigeration. Send the mechanical list and the lease section on capital replacements. A life company that likes generic industrial may pass. A bank may hold an owner-user plant. CMBS is a stretch case. Bridge fits a vacant or half-converted building. Fannie Mae is not an industrial program. The parent pages are Phoenix industrial and Arizona industrial.
Our transactions list includes a Fresno, California cold-storage origination. It names Fresno. It is not a Phoenix refrigerated building, and it will not be copied onto this page as local proof.
Capex is the credit, not a footnote
Ask for the age of the system, the last major replacement, and the utility capacity. A purchase that ignores a compressor replacement will look over-proceeds the moment the third-party report arrives. We would rather price the capex in the sources and uses than discover it in underwriting.
Owner-user food plants and leased third-party logistics cold boxes are different occupancies. Say which one you have. An owner-user may be a bank file. A leased box may be life company if the tenant's term covers the refrigeration risk.
Dry warehouses live on the industrial page
A 32-foot clear building with no refrigeration is Phoenix industrial, not this page. Small-bay flex is its own page. Outdoor yards are their own page. Do not relabel them as cold storage because the submarket is near a grocery user.
No Phoenix cold-storage address appears on our transactions list.
Sources that will actually look at refrigeration
| Source | When it fits |
|---|---|
| Life company | A leased Phoenix cold box when the tenant term covers the mechanical risk. |
| Bank | An owner-user food plant a portfolio lender will hold. |
| CMBS | A larger refrigerated cash flow outside a life-company or bank box. |
| Bridge | A conversion or a dark cold box before the permanent tenant is in place. |