What Cold Summit Development does

Cold Summit Development LLC is a full-spectrum cold chain real estate developer founded in 2019 and headquartered in Sun Valley, Idaho. The company delivers temperature-controlled facilities across six service modules: pre-project advisory, real estate development, build-to-suit development, construction management, and financing & asset management. Its portfolio includes both speculative multi-tenant facilities (Dallas I, Dallas II, Phoenix, Chicago I, Wilmington NC) and single-tenant build-to-suit projects (Savannah BTS for a global maritime shipping customer, MEDLOG for meat exports), with a stated footprint of 2M+ sq ft delivered.

The company's underlying technical platform centers on a multi-temperature refrigeration architecture capable of -20°F to +55°F in a single structure, automated engine rooms with self-reporting systems, and a proprietary Building Management System (BMS) that optimizes power usage and integrates with remote monitoring through partner Innovative Refrigeration Systems. Design integration is anchored by long-standing partnerships with Peak Design Company (architecture/design, including international CSD standards) and Level-Up Racking Co. (pallet-throughput-driven design, claimed to reduce construction costs by up to 10%). Cold Summit serves enterprise customers including port authorities, rail providers, global maritime shippers, food manufacturers, and 3PLs, with a documented $635M port capital improvement plan and a 286,000 sq ft blast-freezing facility among its reference projects.

Cold Summit's revenue model combines recurring multi-year lease income from speculative facilities with project-based development fees and margins from build-to-suit engagements, supplemented by advisory, construction management, and asset management services. The company has raised $1B+ in equity since inception to finance both its own speculative developments and user-financed structures, and operates from offices in Sun Valley (HQ), St. Augustine FL, Norfolk VA, and Amsterdam NL following its announced April 2025 European expansion.

Name

Cold Summit Development

Legal name

Cold Summit Development LLC

Website

https://coldsummit.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cold Summit Development is a privately-held cold chain real estate developer founded in 2019 that designs, builds, leases, and finances temperature-controlled storage facilities for port authorities, rail providers, maritime shippers, food manufacturers, and 3PLs across the United States and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cold Storage Real Estate Development

NAICS

Industrial Building Construction (23621), Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage (493120), Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage (49312), Site Preparation Contractors (23891)

SIC

General Bldg Contractors - Nonresidential Bldgs (1540), Construction - Special Trade Contractors (1700), Land Subdividers & Developers (No Cemeteries) (6552)

akta.pro primary industry

Frozen Food Cold Storage (TLALABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Dedicated/Contract Cold Storage (Single-Client) (AFAOAFAB), Frozen Goods Transport (Deep-Frozen) (TLADAHAF)

Keywords

• Cold storage development
• Temperature-controlled warehousing
• Cold chain real estate
• Build-to-suit logistics
• Cold storage construction

Headquarters

HQ city

Sun Valley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cold Storage Real Estate Leasing: Direct lease of multi-tenant speculative cold storage facilities (e.g., Dallas I, Dallas II, Wilmington NC, Phoenix, Chicago I) to operators and 3PLs. Generates recurring rental income under multi-year lease agreements.
2. Build-to-Suit Development Services: End-to-end custom cold storage development for single clients (e.g., Savannah BTS for a single tenant with blast freeze; MEDLOG build-to-suit). Integrates advisory, real estate development, construction, and financing. Typically structured as project-based fees plus development margin.
3. Pre-Project Advisory Services: Expert advisory services including market analysis, site selection, feasibility studies, and strategic planning for cold chain strategies. Delivered to ports, rail providers, maritime shippers, and food manufacturers.
4. Construction Management Services: Construction management for cold storage projects — contractor vetting, procurement, budgeting, scheduling, and contract negotiation. Often embedded within build-to-suit engagements.
5. Financing & Asset Management: Investment expertise and technical knowledge to execute complex financing transactions, optimize asset performance, and manage assets through the facility lifecycle. The company has raised $1B+ in equity since inception, indicating active capital structuring and investor management.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Cold Summit Development is a full-spectrum cold chain real estate developer that designs, builds, and leases temperature-controlled facilities. The company delivers both speculative multi-tenant cold storage facilities (e.g., Dallas I, Phoenix, Chicago I, Wilmington NC, Dallas II) and custom single-tenant build-to-suit projects (e.g., Savannah BTS, MEDLOG), supported by advisory, real estate development, construction management, and financing & asset management services. Revenue is generated through multi-year facility leases and project-based professional service fees across the U.S. and Europe.

Product overview

Cold Summit Development is a full-spectrum cold chain real estate developer — not a software platform. Its offering is a unified service-plus-physical-asset architecture that combines advisory services, real estate development, build-to-suit, construction management, and financing & asset management to deliver temperature-controlled facilities. The portfolio of physical properties (speculative and build-to-suit) includes Cold Summit Dallas I, Cold Summit Phoenix, Cold Summit Chicago I, Cold Summit Wilmington (Port of Wilmington NC), Cold Summit Dallas II, and Cold Summit Savannah BTS. These facilities deliver the company's Cold Chain Solutions across six categories: Flexible Cold Storage, Production Facilities, Retrofit/Box-in-Box, Pharmaceuticals, Energy & Sustainability, and Ports & Terminals. Innovation in refrigeration technology (ranging from -20°F to +55°F), proprietary Building Management Systems, integrated racking design via partner Level-Up Racking Co., and architectural design via partner Peak Design Company together underpin the facilities and service modules.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cold Summit Dallas I The first speculative, multi-tenant, flexible-temperature cold storage facility in the U.S., located in Dallas, TX; 343,000 sq ft; Class A² facility designed for supply chain flexibility.
• Cold Summit Phoenix Next-generation, flexible-temperature cold storage facility located in Waddell, AZ (Phoenix market); 348K sq ft; designed for flexibility, efficiency, and rapid access to the Southwest market.
• Cold Summit Chicago I State-of-the-art, multi-tenant, flexible-temperature cold storage facility in Bedford Park, IL (Midwest distribution hub); 213K sq ft.
• Cold Summit Wilmington (Port of Wilmington NC) Modern, flexible-temperature cold storage facility at the Port of Wilmington, NC; 298K sq ft; four-tenant; rail-served; available for lease; Phase One opened October 2024.
• Cold Summit Dallas II Next-generation, multi-tenant, flexible-temperature cold storage facility in the Dallas-Fort Worth logistics corridor (Lancaster, TX); delivering Q2 2025; available for lease.
• Cold Summit Savannah Build-to-Suit Custom build-to-suit cold storage facility near the Port of Savannah, GA (Rincon, GA); 286,000 sq ft; single-tenant with blast freeze capability; completed.
• Pre-Project Advisory Services Expert advisory services to shape and achieve cold chain strategies — market analysis, site selection, feasibility, due diligence, and tailored strategic guidance for ports, rail providers, maritime shippers, and food manufacturers.
• Real Estate Development Full facility lifecycle management from conception to construction; specialization in temperature-controlled facilities including refrigerated warehouses, ASRS, food-grade production, and ultra-low temperature pharmaceutical storage.
• Build-to-Suit Services Integrated solutions combining advisory, real estate development, construction, and financing to deliver custom cold storage facilities beyond traditional design-build contractor scope.
• Construction Services Expert construction management for cold storage projects, ensuring on-time, on-budget, and safety-focused execution; contractor vetting, procurement, budgeting, scheduling, and contract negotiation.
• Financing & Asset Management Investment expertise and technical knowledge to execute complex financing solutions for cold storage projects, including user-financed and Cold Summit-financed options; asset performance optimization for investors across the facility lifecycle.

Named customers6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered flagship / core and core.

• Peak Design Company (PDC)flagship / coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCold Summit partners with Peak Design Company (PDC) to deliver architecture and design for temperature-controlled facilities, including food processing plants, cold storage warehouses, and high-volume distribution centers. PDC provides dedicated Design Project Managers who lead the entire project life cycle, ensures alignment with Cold Summit's Core Site Design (CSD) standards, and supports international consistency for global clients (including Cold Summit's announced European expansion).
• Level-Up Racking Co.flagship / coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCold Summit partners with Level-Up Racking Co. to provide innovative, high-efficiency racking solutions for cold storage facilities. From the earliest stages of site planning, Cold Summit and Level-Up collaborate to ensure racking, construction, and cold storage pallet systems are fully aligned with pallet throughput, unlocking higher pallet density, reducing rework, and accelerating project delivery. Co-founder of Cold Summit Mike Smith has stated the partnership "has saved clients millions in construction costs and enabled us to secure tenants faster."
• Innovative Refrigeration SystemscoreTechnology or IntegrationCold Summit's automated engine rooms integrate with self-reporting systems that feed into the building management platform, with remote monitoring delivered through Cold Summit's partners at Innovative Refrigeration Systems. This remote monitoring layer flags issues before they escalate and enables operators to monitor and adjust systems on a phone from anywhere.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Preferred Freezer Services: Preferred Freezer Services is a large operator of temperature-controlled warehouses in the U.S., serving food manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. It is a direct comparable to Cold Summit's multi-tenant cold storage leasing model.
• NewCold Advanced Cold Logistics: NewCold is a fast-growing, technology-led automated cold storage operator with large facilities in the U.S. and Europe. It is highly comparable to Cold Summit in its focus on purpose-built, automated, multi-temperature facilities.
• Americold Realty Trust: Americold is the largest publicly traded REIT focused on temperature-controlled warehousing, owning and operating over 250 cold storage facilities worldwide. It directly competes with Cold Summit for large enterprise tenants and port-based cold storage mandates.
• United States Cold Storage: US Cold Storage is a major temperature-controlled logistics provider with 35+ facilities across North America. It competes directly with Cold Summit for multi-tenant cold storage leasing and food manufacturer build-to-suit deals.
• Lineage Logistics: Lineage Logistics is the world's largest temperature-controlled warehouse and logistics company, operating hundreds of facilities globally. It is the most directly comparable operator/developer to Cold Summit, though at much greater scale and with an owned-and-operated (rather than developer-led) model.

Broad incumbents

• DHL Cold Chain / Life Sciences: DHL's Cold Chain and Life Sciences divisions provide temperature-controlled warehousing and transport globally as part of its broader logistics platform. It is a broad incumbent that competes for pharma-grade cold storage mandates alongside Cold Summit.
• CBRE Group: CBRE is the world's largest commercial real estate services firm, with a major industrial and cold storage advisory practice. It competes for advisory mandates and large industrial build-to-suit engagements that overlap with Cold Summit's services.
• Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL): JLL is a global real estate services and investment firm with an active industrial capital markets and cold storage advisory practice. It is a broad incumbent that competes for advisory, leasing, and capital placement mandates alongside Cold Summit.
• Prologis: Prologis is the largest global industrial REIT with over 1B sq ft of logistics real estate. While not a cold storage specialist, it is expanding into temperature-controlled facilities and competes for large build-to-suit industrial mandates at the same ports and logistics hubs Cold Summit targets.

Regional players

• VersaCold Logistics Services: VersaCold is one of Canada's largest temperature-controlled supply chain specialists, with cross-border North American operations. It is comparable to Cold Summit in cold storage operations but is primarily Canada-focused and does not directly compete in the U.S. Sunbelt.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cold Summit Development