In this episode of The Real Finds Podcast, host Gordon Lamphere sits down with Clifford Booth, founder and CEO of Westmount Realty Capital, one of the earliest pioneers in cold storage investment. With more than four decades of experience in industrial and multifamily real estate, Cliff has seen it all, from buying his first property to house his family’s antique business in Dallas to building one of the most respected private real estate investment firms in America.

Together, they dive deep into how value-add investing has evolved, why cold storage remains one of the most misunderstood yet lucrative asset classes, and what it takes to compete in today’s hyper-competitive industrial market. Cliff shares stories of turning a modest Dallas warehouse into a refrigerated food facility in the 1980s, lessons learned from repositioning million-square-foot properties, and why infill locations and multi-tenant flexibility are the future of cold storage development.

🔍 Key Topics Covered:

- How Cliff transitioned from antiques and art to building a national real estate platform

- The parallels between antiques and real estate: every piece is unique

- Why Westmount has always focused on value-add and opportunistic investments

- How cold storage went from niche to necessity and why COVID accelerated demand

- Why speculative cold storage development is both risky and rewarding

- The critical role of site selection: power, trucking, labor, and last-mile logistics

- Lessons in aligning incentives with contractors to control construction costs

- Why multi-tenant cold storage could be the next major shift in the industry

- The resilience of industrial real estate and why it’s no longer the “Rodney Dangerfield” of asset classes

- Strategies for managing insurance costs, capex, and portfolio risk in today’s market

Whether you’re an investor curious about cold storage, a developer navigating rising construction costs, or a broker tracking industrial demand, this conversation offers rare insight into one of CRE’s most specialized and fastest-growing sectors.

📚 Cliff’s book recommendation: An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin

👤 Guest: Clifford A. Booth, Founder & CEO of Westmount Realty Capital

🎙️ Host: Gordon Lamphere – Commercial Real Estate Agent, Van Vlissingen & Co.

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