Cold Summit Development Launches New, Class A Cold Storage Facility in Dallas

Sitework and construction is anticipated to start immediately with completion by September 2021. The facility will feature state-of-the-art refrigeration technology and a 50-foot clear height. The space is available for lease in customizable suite sizes or for full building occupancy.

Recent developments by FedEx and KeHe Distributors in South Dallas highlight the industrial growth of the submarket. Cold Summit Dallas will be only the 12^th cold storage facility built in the DFW MSA in the last 20 years.

“DFW is a key logistics hub with 40% of the U.S. population within 24 hours, and more than 90% within 48 hours,” says Alex Langerman, co-founder, and COO of Cold Summit Development. “Our location is prime for both businesses serving DFW directly, being 12 miles from downtown Dallas, and for those focused on the broader regional/national market coming to Dallas for the business-friendly environment and access to transportation and logistics infrastructure.”

Cold storage has taken center stage this year with food supply chains stretched to the limit during the COVID-19 pandemic. But even in non-COVID environments, this supply chain continues to be increasingly relevant, especially in the growth region of DFW, says Scott Pertel, president and CEO of Cold Summit Development.

“The food supply chain has always been a critical system of infrastructure, but the pandemic has brought it to the forefront,” says Pertel.

“Traditional infrastructure assets rarely come to market. Cold storage is a great way for investors to access the infrastructure thesis, underwriting the idea that populations grow and people need to eat, pandemic or not,” adds Langerman.

Pertel points to the added impact that cold storage will have on the transport of the new COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine made by Pfizer needs to be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius, while Moderna says its vaccine must be frozen too, but only at minus 20 Celsius or similar to a regular freezer.

“The COVID vaccine is a great example of a novel event underpinning the need for new infrastructure systems,” Pertel says. “There is no greater focus right now than ensuring that our population will have access to a vaccine that will remove the societal and economic restrictions of the pandemic. Cold storage will play a key role in fulfilling that need.”

Key Findings from the Global Cold Chain Alliance’s 2020 COVID-19 Cold Chain Business Impact Survey:

Business Challenges: The most frequently selected challenge was supply chain disruptions, i.e., keeping up with demand surge, slowdowns in food service, production/manufacturing challenges.

Industry Trends: About three-quarters of all respondents think the pandemic will cause an increase in the growth rate of e-commerce/direct-to-consumer delivery of chilled and/or frozen product. Even stronger demand for data and predictive analytics is expected in the future, and respondents are optimistic that the growth rate of the industry as a whole will be even more significant because of the pandemic.

About Cold Summit Development:

Cold Summit is a leading developer of cold storage facilities. With a combined experience of more than 50 years, Cold Summit brings best-in-class, innovative cold storage solutions to the end customer. Cold Summit delivers ground-up development services for both conventional and high-bay ASRS facilities, as well as repurposing existing dry warehouse facilities into state-of-the-art box-in-box cold storage solutions.