New York-based Catalyst Investment Partners has locked in $281 million in fresh financing to fuel a national rollout of industrial outdoor storage sites, a corner of the market that has quietly become a favorite with big-money lenders. The capital, originated in part by Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, will back Catalyst IOS Fund II and is secured by 77 properties in 12 high-barrier U.S. markets, including Northern New Jersey, Miami and Washington, D.C.
"This significant milestone demonstrates the continued institutionalization of the IOS space as market-leading lenders find value in the sector," Dan Haroun, co-founder and partner at Catalyst, said in a statement to Connect CRE. Haroun said the financing "reflects the quality of the portfolio and Catalyst’s extensive experience" and gives the firm more firepower to chase additional infill acquisitions.
Portfolio Breakdown
The loans are tied to a 77-property portfolio spread across 12 supply-constrained metros and leased to a mix of equipment rental, infrastructure and e-commerce tenants, according to CityBiz. Catalyst targets low-improvement, secured parcels in dense urban infill locations where zoning restrictions and competing land uses make it tough to build new IOS facilities. That scarcity, the company and its lenders argue, has helped support rent growth and keep occupancy levels steady.
Lenders And Structure
Blackstone’s BREDS platform and investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management each originated separate tranches of the $281 million package, with J.P. Morgan’s piece marking its first loan that is secured by a fully dedicated IOS portfolio, Connect CRE reports. The structure is designed to let Catalyst IOS Fund II refinance existing positions and redeploy capital, while also extending the platform’s runway for new acquisitions and lease-ups.
Why Lenders Are Moving In
Institutional lenders have been creeping into IOS as its own asset class, in large part because supply is functionally capped in many urban markets while tenant demand from logistics users and infrastructure contractors has stayed resilient, the firm has argued in its press materials. Catalyst closed a larger third fund earlier this year at roughly $400 million, a milestone noted on its press page, Catalyst Investment Partners. Those capital commitments, combined with the new financing, give the firm more leverage to scale its IOS platform and keep hunting for infill sites.
The loan package was arranged by Justin Horowitz of Cooper-Horowitz, with Rothman Law and Levenfeld Pearlstein serving as legal counsel to Catalyst, CityBiz reports. For local operators and municipalities that host these storage yards, the deal is one more sign that a once-obscure niche in industrial real estate has gone fully mainstream, and that the hunt for usable land in already packed markets may only get more intense.
