Finding an Industrial Yard That Wasn't Listed for Sale and Reaching Its Owner
VP of Acquisitions, vertically integrated industrial investor with a national infill and outdoor storage portfolio · Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas · September 9, 2026
What they knew
A vertically integrated industrial investor that grew out of a family building-supply business holds a national portfolio of infill shallow-bay and outdoor storage assets, 230 investments and a billion dollars under management. Its VP of Acquisitions covers the Mid-Atlantic from Maryland to the Carolinas, and most deals came through relationships. Going outbound himself meant a listing export, a batch owner pull, the county GIS, and a satellite view, one yard at a time. He had stopped cold calling after a hundred dials reached one right person, and with three deals just closed, the pipeline needed refilling.
What they asked
Find every industrial parcel in these counties where outdoor storage is allowed by right, with building coverage around 20 percent, and give me the contractor yards, building-material suppliers, and equipment-rental sites first.
What MAIA did
Screened every industrial parcel by zoning and coverage
MAIA read the county's ordinances for the codes that permit outdoor storage, pulled the industrial parcels, and cut them by building coverage and use, so 3,000 became the few hundred worth a look.
Cut to the yards worth a call
Business records flagged the contractor yards, building-material suppliers, and equipment-rental sites, imagery graded the surface and the fencing, and the rest fell away before anyone drove out.
Resolved the owner behind the LLC
Corporate filings pierced the entity to the operating owner, and contact enrichment returned a current direct number where the listing databases had a stale one or none. One call reached him.
What came back
- One call, one callback, and "bring me an offer": the owner's number MAIA returned was missing or stale in every database the firm pays for, and the owner shared the lease and asked for an offer
- 3,000 parcels to about 300 in one county after zoning, building coverage, and use, with the county's own zoning layer on the map showing where the IOS pockets are
- About 30 yards worth a look after a pass over the shortlist by eye, each with the operating owner behind the LLC and a direct number attached
What they did next
The first call is already with an analyst, letter of intent due this week, and the VP is working down the rest of the shortlist himself. His slow-week routine is set: pull up the county's zoning layer, circle the IOS pockets, enrich the yards he likes, then point the same screen at the next of his ten counties. The comp file comes next, uploaded so every property he has measured gets net usable and yard acreage without the measuring tool.
I called an owner off MAIA's contact info and left a voicemail. He called back interested, sent me the lease, and I'm getting an LOI out later this week.
