Industrial Outdoor Storage Is Attracting Big Investors — and Boise Could Be Next
Some of the most interesting industrial real estate investments today aren’t massive warehouses or new distribution centers.
They’re yards.
Industrial outdoor storage, commonly called IOS, is becoming a more established investment category as businesses need secure places for trucks, trailers, construction equipment, utility vehicles, materials, and other equipment that can’t simply be stored inside a traditional warehouse.
A recent Seattle-area acquisition shows how seriously investors are taking this niche — and there are lessons here for Boise commercial real estate.
According to reporting by Randyl Drummer in CoStar News, California-based Steel Peak recently acquired an industrial outdoor storage property in Kent, Washington, for $9 million. The original CoStar News article, “Investor adds to Seattle holdings as demand grows for outdoor storage,” was published August 12, 2026.
The transaction itself is notable. But the bigger story is the growing institutional interest in a property type that historically received far less attention than traditional industrial buildings.
Why Investors Are Chasing Industrial Outdoor Storage
Steel Peak purchased approximately three acres at 1031 N. Fourth Ave. in Kent, one of the Puget Sound area’s busiest industrial locations.
The property isn’t simply vacant land.
It includes approximately 23,515 square feet of industrial space, five oversized grade-level doors, seven bridge cranes, around 2,500 square feet of office space, and a paved and secured outdoor yard.
Existing tenant Pro-Vac operates its corporate headquarters from the property and is expected to remain.
That combination illustrates why IOS properties can be attractive.
Investors aren’t necessarily looking for the newest building with the nicest finishes. They’re looking for functional industrial sites that businesses actually need to operate.
Location matters.
Access matters.
Outdoor storage matters.
Security matters.
And increasingly, having enough land around an industrial building matters.
Steel Peak has been moving aggressively into this space. The Kent purchase gives the company four Seattle-area properties and brings its Western U.S. portfolio to 15 acquisitions since launching in 2024.
The company has also formed a joint venture with Tarsadia Investments with plans to assemble more than $500 million of industrial outdoor storage assets.
That’s a significant commitment to what was once considered a relatively specialized corner of commercial real estate.
The Real Value May Be in the Land
Industrial real estate has traditionally been evaluated heavily on the building itself.
How many square feet?
What’s the clear height?
How many dock doors?
What’s the rent per square foot?
IOS changes the conversation.
For many contractors, equipment rental companies, utility providers, trucking operations, infrastructure companies, and service businesses, the yard can be every bit as important as the building.
Sometimes it’s more important.
A company may only need a modest office and shop building but require two or three acres for trucks, equipment, trailers, materials, and employee parking.
Those properties are difficult to create in established industrial areas.
Land prices rise.
Cities become more restrictive about outdoor storage.
Older industrial parcels get redeveloped.
Nearby residential development creates conflicts with heavy commercial uses.
Meanwhile, the businesses that depend on these properties still need somewhere to operate.
That imbalance helps explain why investors are paying more attention to IOS.
Why This Matters for Boise Commercial Real Estate
Boise and the Treasure Valley have many of the same ingredients that can make industrial outdoor storage valuable.
Construction remains a major part of the regional economy. Population growth creates demand for infrastructure, utilities, landscaping, excavation, equipment rental, building materials, transportation, and other service businesses.
Many of these companies don’t need a massive distribution center.
They need a functional industrial building with a yard.
That’s an important distinction for anyone evaluating Boise industrial real estate.
A smaller building sitting on a relatively large industrial parcel can sometimes look inefficient when judged purely by traditional building metrics.
But that “extra” land may actually be the property’s biggest advantage.
In established industrial areas of Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell, sites that offer the right combination of zoning, outdoor storage, highway access, fencing, circulation, and usable yard area can be difficult to replace.
As the Treasure Valley continues developing, that scarcity could become increasingly important.
Boise Developers Should Think Carefully Before Maximizing Building Coverage
There’s also a development lesson here.
Commercial developers naturally want to maximize the amount of rentable building area they can place on expensive land.
That makes sense for many projects.
But it isn’t necessarily the right strategy for every industrial property.
There is a large group of users that values outdoor operational space.
Think about:
- General contractors and subcontractors
- Excavation and site-work companies
- Equipment rental businesses
- Utility contractors
- Landscaping companies
- Building-material suppliers
- Trucking and transportation businesses
- Fleet operators
- Infrastructure service companies
- Automotive and heavy-equipment businesses
For these users, a warehouse occupying nearly the entire parcel may actually be less functional than a smaller building with a large secured yard.
That creates an interesting opportunity for Boise development.
Instead of asking only, “How much industrial building can we fit here?”
Developers may also want to ask, “What combination of building and yard space will be hardest for a tenant to find somewhere else?”
Those can produce very different site plans.
Local Insight: Boise IOS Properties Could Become Harder to Replace
From a Boise commercial real estate perspective, scarcity is what makes this trend especially interesting.
You can build another warehouse.
Finding several acres of appropriately zoned industrial land with good highway access, adequate circulation, outside storage rights, limited neighborhood conflicts, and an existing functional building is much harder.
And it may get harder over time.
As Boise and the Treasure Valley continue growing, industrial land competes with housing, retail, apartments, data centers, manufacturing, distribution, and other uses.
Some older industrial areas may also eventually transition toward higher-value development.
That can gradually remove the exact properties needed by contractors, utility companies, trucking businesses, and equipment operators.
For landlords, this means a property with significant yard space shouldn’t automatically be viewed as underdeveloped.
For investors, it means evaluating industrial properties based on more than rent per square foot and building replacement cost.
For tenants, it means securing a well-located industrial yard could become increasingly difficult as the region develops.
And for landowners and developers, zoning may be one of the most important pieces of the equation. A parcel where outdoor storage is legally permitted can have a different competitive position than similar land where the use is restricted.
The Kent transaction also shows where institutional capital may be headed.
When investors begin assembling hundreds of millions of dollars around a specialized property type, it’s worth paying attention — particularly when the fundamental investment thesis is based on something difficult to manufacture: scarcity.
Boise’s industrial outdoor storage market is much smaller than Seattle’s.
But the underlying demand drivers are familiar.
More construction creates more contractors.
More infrastructure creates more service vehicles.
More businesses create more fleets.
And all that equipment has to go somewhere.
That makes industrial outdoor storage a niche of Boise commercial real estate worth watching closely.
Mike Gioioso (joy-OH-so)
has for 16+ years been helping companies of all sizes buy, build, and lease perfect places for business in greater Boise, Idaho and beyond.
www.streetsmartidaho.com mike@streetsmartidaho.com 208-209-9166
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