Americold Abandons Automated Warehouse Partnership
Americold Realty Trust is walking away from a 6-year-old deal with a Northeast grocery giant to operate two automated distribution hubs, a move that will result in a more than $300M hit to the cold storage REIT’s balance sheet.
Americold is terminating a 2020 partnership with a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize USA, which operates brands like Food Lion and Stop & Shop, to build and operate two facilities in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Plainville, Connecticut.
The REIT is taking an impairment between $305M and $320M that it will recognize in its second-quarter results, set to be reported on Aug. 6, while putting the properties up for sale, Americold disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 21. There are no associated fees or penalties with the termination, according to the filing.
Americold didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment Monday morning.
The decision comes after Atlanta-based Americold announced a plan in December to explore potential asset sales after activist shareholder Ancora Group Holdings pushed the REIT to pursue strategic alternatives, including a sale of company, after it lost more than 30% of its value on the public market in 2025.
Sieve Capital, another activist investor, called on the REIT in March to fire its board chair and explore a potential sale. The investment firm said at the time that Americold was focused on “short-sighted transactions.”
The stock has done better in 2026, with shares up more than 13%, although it is trading down roughly 5% in the last five trading days. Americold doesn’t expect the distribution hubs’ wind-down to impact its financial guidance for the year.
Americold first struck a $325M deal with ADUSA in 2020 to develop two facilities spanning a combined 500K SF that were supposed to serve roughly 750 stores in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Delivery of the properties was set for the second half of 2023.
The Pennsylvania property will wind down operations by the end of the year. In Connecticut, full operations never began and won’t commence, except for short-term ice production, according to the SEC filing.
The net book value of the assets is $455M, and Americold is already looking for buyers but could also decide to hold on to the assets or redevelop them, according to the filing.
Americold reported mixed first-quarter results in May, with a net loss of $13.6M and adjusted funds from operations down nearly 15% year-over-year. At the same time, it announced a $1.1B investment from EQT Real Estate, the Stockholm-based private equity giant, to buy a 70% stake in 12 assets.
Cold storage vacancy hit a 20-year high in the first quarter after a wave of pandemic-era construction starts hit the market. Vacancy trends suggest the segment may be overbuilt, with the highest vacancy rates, 10.1%, reserved for properties built after 2019, according to Newmark. Properties built between 2006 and 2019 have the lowest vacancy rate, at less than 3%.
