Niche Industrial 2026

Moir Park acquires single-tenant, net-leased industrial outdoor storage real estate nationwide, with an emphasis on sites leased to blue-chip equipment rental companies, collision repair operators, and building supply tenants. The firm employs a proactive off-market sourcing strategy (94% of acquisitions are off-market) targeting owners who previously started, ran, and sold their business to a consolidator. Deep industry knowledge and relationships drive sourcing, diligence, and risk mitigation.

Moir Park has assembled one of the largest private IOS portfolios in the country: 67 properties across 26 states with $200M+ enterprise value, $15.3M NOI, 334 acres, and 1.2M SF. The firm has maintained effective 100% occupancy for 25+ years across its portfolio and extended 500+ lease years, increasing contractual cash flows by $115M (3.7x). Returns across six vehicles range from 1.4-2.9x MOIC and 22.8-61.8% net IRR: Fund I (2.9x, 26.7%), Fund II (1.8x, 22.8%), Fund III (1.4x, 33.2%, active), MPI Sidecar (1.7x, 28.0%), MPC Hudson (2.0x, 61.8%, realized), and ASEH Holdings (1.8x, 38.5%, realized). Founder Matthew Schliep has a twelve-year exclusive focus on IOS, deploying over $200M.

Moir Park is consolidating existing vehicles into a single fund structure with $150M+ in contractual rents and ~2.5% annual rent/tenant revenue escalation, creating a clean institutional entry point into the deepest pure-play IOS portfolio in the country.

Matthew Schliep (Founder & Managing Partner) has invested $2.0B+ across alternative investment strategies since 2005, starting at Wayzata Investment Partners. Sam Dosch (Principal) joined from First Industrial Realty Trust (NYSE: FR). Jill Retrum (COO) brings fund operations experience from Wayzata and Merced Capital.

IronHorn acquires, repositions, and operates income-producing industrial properties, manufacturing, distribution, and heavy industrial, across the eastern U.S. The firm focuses on core plus, value-add, and repositioning strategies, satisfying national and regional tenant requirements through extensive off-market sourcing. IronHorn is fully vertically integrated with in-house general counsel, construction, leasing, property management, brokerage, zoning/development, environmental, and finance functions. A dedicated 30+ person acquisition team makes thousands of off-market calls weekly in preferred markets.

IronHorn grew its portfolio from $219M (2024) to $312M (2025), executing $110M in acquisitions and $59M in investment sales with $16M in gains on sales in 2025. The firm has demonstrated a full buy-fix-sell cycle with recent exits across New York, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Connecticut, Ohio, California, and other states, maintaining active tenant relationships with national credits including United Rentals, Ryder, Swift, LKQ, and First Student.

IronHorn is targeting a $400M+ portfolio value in 2026, with $150M in planned acquisitions and $75M in investment sales generating $28M in projected gains. The firm is expanding its geographic footprint across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic while reinvesting lease and sale proceeds to strategically scale resources and portfolio.

Greg Cleghorn and Colin Cleghorn (Co-Founders) bring deep expertise in manufacturing real estate sourcing and development. The firm employs a 30+ person acquisition team with in-house capabilities across every major function.

Legacy Investing is a fully vertically integrated data center platform focused on AI inference facilities, sub-100MW sites that benefit from a deeper tenant base (cloud, enterprise, retail with credit support), stronger debt/equity liquidity, and more attractive risk-adjusted returns (10%+ yield on cost for turnkey deals, 300-400bps over exit cap) versus the hyperscale AI training segment. The leadership team has been developing and empowering data centers since before the cloud era.

Legacy’s leadership team brings 25+ years of data center development experience, 34 completed sites, and 2.3 GW of delivered capacity.

Legacy has a ~$2B pipeline across 5 projects: Richmond, VA (30MW brownfield, ~$300M, Q2 2028), San Antonio, TX (50MW greenfield, ~$500M, Q2/Q3 2027), Los Angeles, CA (50MW brownfield, ~$600M, Q1 2028), Nashville, TN (30MW SLB + expansion, ~$250M, Q4 2027), and Minneapolis, MN (17MW adaptive reuse, ~$170M, Q4 2027). All structured as JV equity.

Legacy Investing leadership team with 25+ years of collective data center development experience across 34 completed sites.

Ludlow is the only institutional platform focused exclusively on self storage in America’s leisure towns, mountain, lake, beach, and island communities where 99% of facilities are independently owned and institutional capital has not arrived. Ludlow acquires and develops storage facilities in these high-barrier-to-entry markets using a proprietary AI-powered operating system ("Looking For Storage") that enables fully remote, vertically integrated property management with zero on-site staff.

Ludlow has assembled a portfolio of 35 properties with 6,000+ units, $140M in assets under management, and $48M in capital deployed. Ground-up developments include Vail Airport Storage (85,000 SF, 569 units, opened 3 months early, $500K under budget, 53% occupied in the first 12 months) and Snowmass Self Storage (delivered ahead of schedule and under budget). Value-add acquisitions have returned 38% of capital in 5 months (Estes Park), 12% of capital in the first year with a 36% revenue increase (Gunnison/Crested Butte), and a 45% rent increase in Year 1 (Discount Self Storage).

Ludlow is targeting 400+ leisure towns with 2,000+ facilities representing a $10B+ addressable market. The competitive moat rests on three pillars: first-mover advantage in high-barrier mountain and leisure towns, tech-enabled margins through a proprietary AI operating system, and fully vertically integrated remote property management at institutional scale.

Michael Forrest (Managing Partner & Head of Acquisitions & Development) began his career as a real estate attorney before moving into commercial brokerage and ownership. Jason Udoff (Co-Founder & CIO) spent eight years at Shorenstein Properties as VP of Investments after starting at Hines. Michael Fishman (Partner & COO) built Pure Cycles from his dorm at UW-Madison into a 250,000-unit business sold across 50+ countries (Forbes 30 Under 30).

CA South has launched an IOS platform branded "Secured Outdoor Storage Yards" (SOSY), purpose-building Class A secured outdoor storage facilities from the ground up for small commercial and industrial users who need fenced, monitored yards for equipment, trucks, containers, and materials. Each 5,000-10,000 SF yard features secure perimeter fencing, 24/7 lighting, security cameras, key card access, and paved interior roads, a significant quality upgrade over the typical informal IOS site.

CEO Meg Epstein has developed over $400M of commercial real estate, including 1M+ SF of shallow bay industrial across multiple markets, and has delivered average returns to LPs in excess of 25%. Principal Advisor Khyl Powell is a pioneer in Class A secured outdoor storage, having developed and operated 3 Contractor Storage Yards locations in Phoenix, AZ. Those three facilities (acquired 2003-2013) show untrended yields on cost of 12.3-14.2% and trended yields of 19.6-23.2%, with profit margins of 69-82.5%.

CA South is targeting ground-up development across 10 Sunbelt states (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas), focusing on 6-12 acre raw land parcels in 100K+ population MSAs near building supply and industrial corridors with permit-by-right zoning and 70% net rentable efficiency.

Meg Epstein (CEO), $400M+ CRE developed, 1M+ SF shallow bay industrial, numerous industry awards including Entrepreneur of the Year and Most Admired CEO. Khyl Powell (Principal Advisor), pioneer in Class A secured outdoor storage, developed and operates 3 locations in Phoenix, AZ.

Westlake Realty is a vertically integrated, third-generation family office targeting IOS and self storage in supply-constrained Western U.S. markets. The IOS strategy focuses on 2+ acre infill sites with 7.25%+ stabilized yields on cost, 16%+ net IRR to LPs, and 1.7x+ multiples over 3-6 year holds. Westlake targets vacant or partially leased properties, warehouse sites with existing yields, sale-leasebacks with below-market rents, and long-term owners with low basis. IOS is a $200B subsector with limited institutional penetration, and Westlake’s deep West Coast relationships give them a sourcing edge.

Westlake has managed $600M+ and 8M SF of real estate since 1972 across 27 wholly owned properties. The partnered self storage portfolio comprises 8 properties ($80M+ portfolio value, 80+ individual investors) acquired since 2021, with rent increases of 14-66% across the portfolio. Since December 2025, the firm has acquired 5 IOS and infill industrial assets across California, Texas, and Nevada delivering net IRRs of 15.8-23.4% and equity multiples of 2.02-2.80x.

Westlake has a $200M+ actionable pipeline of IOS assets across major Western U.S. markets and is targeting $100M+ in equity deployment.

Kristina Chang (CEO) leads the firm with deep expertise in California industrial real estate and operator consolidation.

Karis controls strategic land positions across three verticals, industrial, cold storage, and mission-critical infrastructure, targeting 20%+ investor IRRs. Everything starts with land: sites are selected for optionality, so powered land can serve data centers, advanced manufacturing, or traditional industrial depending on where demand moves. The cold storage platform focuses on supply-starved secondary markets, while the powered land portfolio targets hyperscale-ready sites with committed utility capacity.

Karis has deployed $1B+ in equity and delivered $5B+ in completed projects. The portfolio includes 2M+ SF of cold storage across 10 properties, 2,800+ entitled acres with 500MW+ committed power capacity across 6 data center land sites, and a 3.6x MOIC on its first industrial joint venture. Founder Jake Finley has led $1.5B+ in portfolio value and $2.5B+ in completed projects.

Karis is targeting $500M in equity deployment over the next 12-24 months across build-to-suit and speculative industrial, cold storage expansion, powered land assemblage, and advanced manufacturing, spanning multiple U.S. markets from last-mile logistics to hyperscale-ready infrastructure sites.

Jake Finley (Founder & CEO), $1.5B+ in portfolio value, $2.5B+ in completed projects. Jeff Heuerman (Co-Founder & COO) brings an entrepreneurial background through JPH Corp. Greg Strom (EVP), former CMO of ALDI U.S., managed $360M marketing budget and $2.5B e-commerce P&L across 2,500+ stores.

ErvoSquare is a value-add and opportunistic investor in small-bay industrial and industrial outdoor storage along Colorado’s Front Range, one of the fastest-growing industrial corridors in the Mountain West. The firm targets $2-50M deals involving re-tenanting, vacancy lease-up, renovation, and management turnaround, seeking 15-20% net IRR and 2.0x equity multiples. The focus on sub-institutional deal sizes gives ErvoSquare access to mispriced assets with real operational upside.

Founder Michael Ervolina has $300MM+ in career acquisitions and financing with 1.7M+ SF managed, with select realized exits at 19%, 27%, 62%, and 71% IRR. Prior experience includes Somera Road Inc. and J.P. Morgan.

ErvoSquare is targeting $50-100M in deployment capital and is expanding from its Colorado home market into additional high-growth corridors across the Mountain West.

Michael Ervolina (Founder & Principal), $300MM+ in career transaction volume, 1.7M+ SF managed. Previously at Somera Road Inc. and J.P. Morgan. BS from Villanova, MS Real Estate from NYU.

Foxfield acquires underutilized office and industrial properties in East Coast infill markets and repositions them into Class A small-bay industrial product (1,000-10,000 SF units) leased to SMBs and service-sector businesses. The firm targets supply-constrained corridors where aging buildings can be converted into modern, functional industrial flexspace, a segment too small and operationally intensive for large institutional players but generating outsized risk-adjusted returns.

Foxfield’s principals have $1.8B in career acquisition volume across 122 investments, producing a 39% gross IRR and 2.21x gross equity multiple with 84 realized exits. The firm has managed 7.5M SF of real estate and delivered a 53% realized average IRR specifically on shallow bay investments. The current portfolio spans nearly 250K SF across 24 small-bay assets.

Foxfield has a $676M active pipeline (3.06M SF) and expects to deploy $50-100M in equity per year across two verticals: a core open-ended industrial fund and a multifamily group positioned to capitalize on distressed opportunities.

Jeff Harper (Partner/CIO/CEO), Jeff Theobald (Managing Partner), and Shawn Hawthorne (Partner/Head of IR) lead the firm with deep expertise in East Coast infill repositioning and small-bay development.

Knickpoint Studios acquires soundstage and production infrastructure assets at what it sees as a generational dislocation in content real estate pricing. The platform is led by Shawn Papazian, a 25-year studio veteran who co-designed Studio 1 at One Culver (now Apple’s content home base), ran Sunset Gower Studios alongside GI Partners, and led entitlements at Culver Studios (now Amazon Studios HQ). Knickpoint targets institutional-quality production facilities in supply-constrained markets where streaming-driven demand continues to outpace purpose-built soundstage supply.

Knickpoint currently owns 25 portfolio assets representing $1.3B in owned real estate across three regions (New York/New Jersey, the Midwest, and South Florida), with 60+ soundstages globally. The flagship development, The Fields Studios, is a 1.7M SF, $250M purpose-built campus with 9 soundstages leased to Apple, NBC, Sony, and Amazon. The combined founders bring $4B+ in transaction volume from prior careers at Fir Tree Partners and Angelo, Gordon & Co.

Knickpoint is scaling its studio portfolio to capture continued demand growth from streaming platforms, leveraging Papazian’s development pedigree and the firm’s investment platform to acquire and develop production-ready assets in markets with structural supply constraints.

Zain Koita (Founder & Managing Partner), $4B+ in transaction volume, prior experience at Fir Tree Partners and Angelo, Gordon & Co. Matthew Sprayregen (Founder & Managing Partner) co-leads the platform. Shawn Papazian (Partner, Knickpoint Studios), 25 years in studio design, development, and operations.