18 — October 2026 — New Jersey — M id A tlantic Real Estate Journal
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N ew J ersey Metz Industrial Group Industrial outdoor storage: The asset class that built itself in plain sight
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ndustrial Outdoor Stor- age (IOS), once viewed as a niche segment of the
IOS rents have increased more than 123% since 2020, according to the report. In Northern New Jersey, rents that historically traded for approximately $2,000–$3,000 per acre per month reached $25,000–$40,000 during the 2020–2022 supply-chain crisis. Rents have since recovered to $30,000-plus per acre per month in the strongest markets. • Institutional capital con- tinues to expand: Estimated IOS transaction volume reached $14 billion to $16 billion in 2025, representing a 15%–20% increase from 2024, with early 2026 activity tracking ahead of the prior year’s pace. The report also identifies approximately $1.7 billion in IOS-specific capital raised in 2024 alone. • New supply remains difficult to create: IOS de- liveries represent less than 2% of total inventory annually, according to the report. Zoning restrictions, environmental permitting, infrastructure requirements, neighborhood opposition and the scarcity of appropriately configured industrial land all limit the ability to add new supply. • The tenant base is broadening: Construction and building materials account for approximately 20%–25% of tenant demand, with logistics and trucking representing another 20%–25%. Equipment rental, utilities, specialty con- tractors and other service busi- nesses account for much of the remaining demand. • The “Crane Theory” points to a broader demand engine: The report argues that every major construction project generates demand from dozens of specialty trades, in- cluding electricians, plumbers, HVAC contractors, steel erec- tors, roofers, concrete contrac- tors, fire protection companies
and others, each of which may require a yard for equipment, fleet parking, material staging and maintenance. • The service economy is reshaping the geogra- phy of demand: Unlike port-dependent logistics us- ers, contractors and service businesses generally need to locate near population centers and job sites. This is pushing IOS demand deeper into secondary and tertiary industrial corridors. New Jersey Market Shows the Shift The report identifies Northern and Central New Jersey as a particularly important example of the changing IOS landscape. While Port Newark, Eliza- beth and Bayonne remain among the state’s most supply- constrained IOS markets, the research finds that demand has increasingly shifted to- ward contractors, equipment rental companies, building materials distributors, util- ity fleets and other service- economy users. The Meadowlands corridor has emerged as a particularly important service-economy market, while communities along the Turnpike mid-corri- dor, including Linden, Rahway, Carteret, Woodbridge, Avenel, Edison and Piscataway, are ben- efiting from demand generated by businesses seeking access to New Jersey’s dense population and development base. The report notes that port- proximate markets have re- mained relatively flat follow - ing the 2022 correction, while Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets have benefited from tenants willing to move farther from the port in exchange for lower occupancy costs. At the same time, MIG re- ports early signs of a poten- tial return of port-related
demand. In the first quarter of 2026 , the firm observed the first meaningful trucking and drayage activity in the port- proximate corridor in nearly three years, including several early transactions. “The IOS market has ma- tured well beyond the origi- nal port-and-trucking nar- rative,” said Jordan Metz , principal of Metz Industrial Group. “The real story is the breadth of the tenant base. The same physical economy that builds, maintains and services our cities requires outdoor storage, fleet park- ing, equipment staging and maintenance facilities. That creates a much deeper and more geographically diverse demand base than the market was recognized for five or ten years ago.” Energy Infrastructure Creates a New Source of Demand The report also identifies the energy transition as an emerg- ing third major demand driver for IOS. Battery energy storage sys- tems, EV fleet-charging depots, utility substations, transform- er staging and other infra- structure projects increasingly require secured, industrial outdoor sites with significant power capacity. MIG refers to this emerging category as Electrified Indus - trial Outdoor Storage (EIOS) . New Jersey is highlighted as a particularly important market for the convergence of IOS and energy infrastruc- ture. The report points to the state’s goal of reaching 2,000 megawatts of installed energy storage by 2030, as well as the Two Rivers Storage project in Bergen County, as examples of energy-related uses competing for the same constrained indus- trial land sought by traditional
IOS users.
A Different Kind of Industrial Asset
industrial real estate market, has evolved into a $218 billion- plus asset class with institutional- quality fun- damentals,
The report argues that IOS differs fundamentally from traditional warehouse real es- tate because the yard is the product and the building serves the yard . Many IOS properties con- tain relatively little building space, often 20% or less of the site, but the presence of a functional maintenance build- ing can dramatically expand the potential tenant pool. The report estimates that adding a maintenance facility can make the difference between serving only trailer-staging users and attracting equip- ment rental companies, con- tractors, utilities and other service-oriented tenants. The report concludes that IOS’s combination of con- strained supply, mission-crit- ical tenants, geographic re- quirements and increasingly diversified demand has helped transform the sector from an overlooked niche into an insti- tutional real estate category. “What has changed is not simply the amount of capital pursuing IOS, but the market’s understanding of why these sites matter,” Metz said. “The demand is tied to the physi- cal economy itself, including construction, infrastructure, utilities, equipment, transpor- tation and the services that keep buildings and communi- ties operating.” The full Industrial Outdoor Storage: The Asset Class That Built Itself in Plain Sight report was prepared by Metz Indus- trial Group and examines the definition and physical char- acteristics of IOS, its tenant universe, historical rent trends, supply constraints, institutional capital formation and the evolv- ing investment thesis. MAREJ
Jordan Metz
according to a new market intelligence report from Metz Industrial Group (MIG) of Bus- sel Realty Corp, a leading New Jersey industrial and retail real estate services firm. The report, Industrial Out- door Storage: The Asset Class That Built Itself in Plain Sight , examines the evolution of IOS, its increasingly diverse tenant base, rent growth, supply con- straints and the influx of insti - tutional capital into the sector. The research finds that the IOS market is no longer primar- ily a story about ports, trucking and containers. Increasingly, demand is being generated by the broader built economy and service economy, including contractors, equipment rental companies, building materials distributors, utility and infra- structure companies, environ- mental service providers and other fleet-intensive businesses that require outdoor yards and maintenance facilities close to the populations and job sites they serve. Among the report’s key findings: • $218 billion-plus mar- ket: MIG estimates the total U.S. IOS market at more than $218 billion in 2026. • Extremely tight vacan- cy: Core IOS markets have approximately 2.7% vacancy, with improved sites reporting vacancy below 4%. • Rent growth of more than 123%: Port-proximate
Central New Jersey Regional Focus
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