Cold storage stays hot: Prologis gets $225M in Riverside

IDS Real Estate Group has expanded its cold-storage portfolio, buying a 1.2 million-square-foot facility in Riverside.

The L.A.-based firm bought the property from Prologis for $225 million, records show. The Registry SoCal previously reported the sale, but did not name the seller.

San Francisco-based Prologis is among the largest owners of warehouse and logistics space in the world, with more than 1 billion square feet of space.

Nerses Aposhian, who works with IDS’ acquisitions team, confirmed the deal for the facility at 14800 Meridian Parkway on Twitter.

“We’re expanding our cold storage portfolio at IDS,” he said.

Investors have funneled money into the cold storage sector during the pandemic, as operators pivoted to storing frozen supermarket foods, rather than restaurant products. Pharmaceutical companies also turned to cold storage for COVID vaccines.

The warehouse is currently occupied by United Natural Foods Inc — a major supplier of health and organic foods to retailers including Whole Foods. UNFI and Whole Foods have a primary wholesale agreement that runs through September of 2027.

Prologis bought the site and adjacent land in 2015 for undisclosed sum from KTR Capital Partners, records show. The firm then developed temperature controlled buildings on the site and secured UNFI and Vons — a subsidiary of Albertsons — as tenants. Prologis sold off one of the buildings in 2020 for an undisclosed sum.

IDS has kicked off the year with a number of multimillion-dollar purchases. Once known for its office buildings, the firm has pivoted to investing more in alternative asset classes like industrial and cold storage.

In January, the company bought a 33-building business park in Walnut for $108.6 million from Vogel Properties, a local industrial developer.