Walton Global brokered a 120-acre land sale in Texas’s Caldwell County.

The property, known as Cotton Ridge, was sold to Stafford Development and is part of the larger Cotton Center Master Plan that spans over 2,000 acres. 

Cotton Ridge is located directly off Highway 1984, just outside of the city of San Marcos and about a 16-minute drive from the city’s vibrant center. In December 2024, Stafford Development purchased 88 acres from Walton Global in the nearby Cotton Gateway community to serve as a utility lot to service nearby residential and commercial developments. 

Blacktop Industrial Trust acquired Rosslyn Business Park, a fully leased, heavy industrial campus in Northwest Houston.

Blacktop acquired the property from Houston-based Clay Development & Construction, Inc.  Blacktop closed the transaction in partnership with a leading global alternative investment firm with dedicated real estate investment vehicles.

Blacktop was founded in 2024 by real estate industry veterans Thomas A. Rizk and Roger W, Thomas and is led by Ricardo Cardoso and Christian Vergilio.

Rosslyn Business Park is a 337,705-square-foot, 45-acre campus that is fully leased to seven tenants in 11 buildings in the Northwest Houston Submarket, one of the tightest industrial manufacturing submarkets in the Houston metropolitan area.

The campus features abundant outdoor storage space (IOS) and the buildings feature clear heights ranging from 20-55 feet, heavy power, overhead cranes, reinforced concrete floors, sprinkler systems and drive through capability with oversized grade level doors. The site is conveniently located next to several major highway systems and is currently occupied by established industrial manufacturing users with decades-long operational histories in fabrication, engineering, and energy sectors, including Baker Hughes, KoneCranes and Amogy.

Houston’s industrial manufacturing sector continues to demonstrate remarkable strength. The Northwest submarket recorded 1.3 million square feet of absorption in the second quarter of 2025 – the strongest quarterly performance since 2021 – while maintaining the lowest vacancy rate in Houston at just 4.7%. Manufacturing requirements now represent nearly 35% of total tenant demand in Houston, with vacancy in manufacturing facilities at just 1.3% as of the second quarter of 2025. This imbalance between robust demand and limited new supply positions assets like Rosslyn Business Park for long-term growth.

Blacktop’s strategy is underpinned by proprietary research identifying a persistent supply-demand imbalance in functional, infrastructure-heavy industrial properties, primarily across the Sunbelt, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Blacktop is targeting assets that are crane-served, rail-connected, and power-intensive at discounts to replacement cost while new construction is constrained by zoning restrictions, high capital requirements, and extended permitting timelines. Secular tailwinds including reshoring, investment in energy and transportation infrastructure, labor cost advantages, and migration into pro-business environments are fueling demand for these specialized facilities.

Blacktop is backed by Rizk Ventures, a leading special situation platform with investments in real estate, technology and healthcare  Founded in 2000 by Thomas A. Rizk, the firm has deep roots in the commercial real estate sector and currently owns and operates properties across the US totaling 26 million square feet.  Rizk Ventures builds fully integrated real estate businesses around seasoned entrepreneurs who bring deep expertise in their asset classes while leveraging technology to enhance returns and elevate customer experiences.

JLL Capital Markets served as financial advisor to Blacktop on this transaction.

How hot is the industrial outdoor storage market today? A new report from Newmark says that rent growth in this sector has increased an impressive 123% since 2020.

That easily outpaces the 58% increase in rent that bulk warehouse product has seen during the same time, according to Newmark’s report, Lots to Gain: Industrial Outdoor Storage Outperforming Bulk Warehouse.

Newmark estimates that there are 1.4 million acres of industrial outdoor storage space across the United States. For reference, that’s an area roughly equivalent to the state of Delaware. Newmark estimates that a conservative estimate of readily tradeable industrial outdoor storage real estate in that footprint signals a $200 billion market capitalization.

The vacancy rate for industrial outdoor storage space, known by its abbreviation of IOS, remains low. Newmark reported that it stood at around 5% as of the middle of 2025. That’s because of both strong demand and a lack of new IOS space.

At the same time, the vacancy rate for bulk warehouse space had risen to slightly more than 8%, another example of IOS space outperforming bulk warehouse.

Don’t expect this trend to change anytime soon, either. In its report, Newmark says that land density and zoning issues are driving more bulk warehouse occupiers to IOS. This is especially true in dense markets such as Chicago, where a lack of available land has pushed rents higher for bulk warehouse space. This has caused some tenants to lease IOS space instead.

Zoning restrictions also frequently make it difficult for developers in denser markets to add bulk warehouse space. Users that can’t find bulk warehouse space in tighter markets might choose IOS as a replacement.

Because of these factors, the number of acquisitions of IOS space by large equity managers is rising. Some examples include Alterra IOS and J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s sale of a $490 million, 51-property IOS portfolio and Realterm’s $277 million portfolio acquisition from Brookfield. Catalyst added to this activity by closing a $163.5 million sale of 18 IOS properties.

During the past five years, the number of IOS properties reported in the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries’ Expanded National Property Index more than doubled. Five-year annualized returns in this sector now exceed those of the broader industrial sector by 126 basis points, Newmark said in its report.