Case Study 001
San Diego–Tijuana megaregion · Otay Gateway
This is a pre-feasibility strategic analysis, not a completed transaction. The platform described here is conceptual. All figures are illustrative and remain subject to engineering, market, financial, legal and independent economic-impact diligence. October 2026.
The modeled platform
A Meridian strategic case demonstrating how freight friction, scarce industrial land, energy, operating complexity and long-duration demand can be reframed into an institutional real-asset platform.
The opportunity
The San Diego–Tijuana corridor is one of North America's most important manufacturing and trade gateways. Yet the economic infrastructure surrounding the border remains fragmented. Freight congestion, industrial land scarcity, equipment dwell, fragmented logistics services, energy requirements and lost productive time are typically treated as separate operating problems.
Meridian approached them differently. Rather than viewing these constraints individually, we developed a strategic thesis around a simple question: could the friction created by one of North America's most active cross-border trade corridors be reorganized into a scalable, institutional-grade infrastructure platform?
The resulting concept demonstrates how Meridian approaches complex opportunities at the intersection of capital, infrastructure, operations and long-term value creation.
The Meridian thesis
Meridian developed a conceptual $225 million private infrastructure platform positioned immediately downstream from the Otay border system. The objective was not simply to develop another warehouse, truck yard or logistics facility.
The thesis envisioned a controlled commercial ecosystem integrating industrial land, freight infrastructure, cross-dock and transload capacity, secured yards, mobility and energy services, digital infrastructure and supporting commercial services.
Public infrastructure accelerates the border. Private infrastructure can capture and reorganize the economic activity created around it.
Meridian's role was to identify where that value could exist, determine how it could be monetized and create a framework for deploying capital against measurable demand rather than speculative development.
Note on trade facilitated. These are pre-feasibility estimates. The ~$258B figure represents merchandise value potentially enabled by the infrastructure over the modeled period. It is not project revenue, not GDP, and not a measure of returns to the platform.
The Meridian approach
Meridian examined the economic cost created by freight dwell, industrial land constraints, fragmented services, equipment utilization and lost productive time. Instead of treating these conditions exclusively as operating problems, we evaluated whether they represented monetizable structural inefficiencies.
The concept combined complementary revenue-producing components rather than relying on one real-estate rent stream. Potential sources included private-yard and ground leases, industrial outdoor storage, cross-dock and transload services, trailer and container storage, commercial services, parking, mobility infrastructure, energy and EV charging.
Rather than committing the entire capital requirement at inception, Meridian developed a phased deployment framework. Capital would be released as specific milestones were achieved: site control, entitlement progress, infrastructure development, contractual demand and operating stabilization.
Meridian evaluated the platform through scarcity capture, velocity capture, contractualization and network effects — linking long-duration land control, reduced freight dwell, recurring agreements and reinforcing tenant and service density.
The framework identified the diligence required before significant deployment: land basis and assemblage; entitlement and environmental feasibility; anchor demand and pre-leasing; freight throughput validation; energy and utility capacity; capital-market conditions; and independent economic-impact validation.
Capital should follow de-risking — not speculative build-out.
Value creation
Under the pre-feasibility base case, the conceptual platform could support approximately $1.55 billion in facility revenue and $552 million in cumulative NOI over twenty years, while supporting a much larger regional trade ecosystem.
The significance extends beyond those numbers. The exercise demonstrates how a relatively concentrated private-capital investment can potentially organize and monetize a substantially larger flow of economic activity.
What this case demonstrates
This case study represents the type of problem Meridian & Thornwell Capital is built to address. We work at the intersection of strategy, capital, operations and infrastructure.
Our role begins before a conventional transaction exists. We identify structural inefficiencies, determine where economic value is being lost or underutilized, develop the operating and capital architecture around the opportunity, and establish the proof points required to move from concept to validation to execution to institutionalization.
The result does not always need to be a $225 million infrastructure platform. It may be an industrial asset, an operating company, a cross-border expansion, a logistics network or an underutilized piece of infrastructure.
Where is value currently being lost — and what would it take to convert it into a durable economic platform?
Start here
If your organization controls an asset, operation or strategic position with significant unrealized potential, Meridian can provide an independent assessment of the opportunity and the pathway required to institutionalize it.