10 REITs That Lease Out Unique Types of Real Estate

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) were created more than 60 years ago by federal legislation that provided corporate tax pass-throughs to companies that shared the wealth by paying out most of their profits to shareholders.

The idea was to make real estate investing accessible to anyone who could afford the price of a share of their stock. The industry has grown ever since, with more than 225 publicly traded REITs now involved in a wide array of businesses.

Here are some you might not expect.

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Medical and recreational marijuana is now legal in 38 and 18 states, respectively, and someone has to grow the stuff. Innovative Industrial Properties (NYSE:IIPR) does just that by buying and leasing back to medical marijuana growers the facilities they need to grow and process their products.

While IIP has a substantial head start, others are getting in the game, too, including NewLake Capital Partners (OTC:NLCP).

Ryman Auditorium was home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 through 1974 and is still a headliner destination for country music and more, making it kind of a capitol in country music's capital city.

The Tennessee icon now belongs to Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP), which also owns Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and similar venues in Colorado, Texas, Florida, and the Washington, D.C., area. Ryman also still owns the Grand Ole Opry itself and WSM Radio, the Opry's longtime broadcast home.

ALSO READ: Investing in Hospitality REITs

Give you one guess what the primary holding is for Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT). Here are a couple of hints: It's really tall, and it's in New York City. Yep, a REIT owns one of America's most iconic trophy properties.

While leasing a hundred stories or so of office space generates a lot of dough, the 1930s-era skyscraper's refurbished observation deck creates a lot of interest and income on its own. Just watch out for giant gorillas if you come calling.

There are four timberland REITs, and the largest, by far, is Weyerhauser (NYSE:WY), whose 11 million acres of U.S. timberland and another 14 million under license in Canada make it one of the world's largest timberland owners.

With those combined holdings equal in size to the entire state of Virginia, Weyerhauser operates 35 wood products plants, as well as real estate and energy businesses.

ALSO READ: Investing in Timberland REITs

A handful of REITs specialize in farmland, including Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND). This Virginia-based company owns and leases more than 105,000 acres in 14 states across the country.

While row crops like corn and wheat make up the majority of its tenants' businesses, Gladstone Land also has a substantial business with thousands of growers of apples, cabbage, and walnuts, to name just a few.

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Sun Communities (NYSE:SUI) has a portfolio of more than 600 mobile home, recreational vehicle, and marina properties in 39 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada. That includes the 75 properties the company picked up when it bought the Jellystone Parks camping host operation last year.

The company is also now moving into the British market, with its recent $1.4 billion acquisition of Park Holidays UK.

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Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark -- complete with its 1,000-gallon dumping bucket -- is part of the Poconos Mountains' Camelback Resort, itself a property of EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR).

This Pennsylvania retreat is in the Kansas City-based REIT's portfolio of 353 locations in 44 states and Canada that includes movie theaters, experiential lodging, ski resorts, and eat and play venues, among others.

ALSO READ: This Dividend Stock Yields Almost 7% and Could Double Your Money in 5 Years

Belle of Baton Rouge is a casino and hotel in Louisiana’s capital city and one of 51 geographically diversified gaming and related facilities and amenities located across the United States and nestled in the portfolio of Gaming & Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI).

The Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based company was the first gaming REIT when it launched in 2013 and has since been joined by the biggest names in the casino game to make REITs a major player in that industry.

Speaking of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, two REITs make their living in the billboard and digital signage space and are dominant in what has come to be known as "out of home" advertising.

One of them is Baton Rouge-based Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ:LAMR), which has been around since 1902 and operates billboards, logo signs, and transit displays across the United States and Canada. The other is Outfront Media (NYSE:OUT), a New York City outfit that traces its corporate roots to 1938 and also makes its hay with both billboard and transit displays.

REITs are among the biggest owners/operators of mobile communications real estate, growing their business from traditional cell phone towers to small-cell solutions and single-building sites as 5G continues its global rollout.

One of these companies, American Towers (NYSE:AMT), is among the biggest REITs of any kind, with more than 220,000 digital communications sites in 25 countries on six continents. And it's now moved into data centers, too.

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A REIT's unique corporate structure lends itself to all kinds of businesses. The ones above are just a small sampling. Their requirement to pay at least 90% of their taxable income as dividends to shareholders makes them a good growth-and-income option, and the diversity of industries they're in can make for some interesting exploration with a profitable outcome for those who buy and hold well.

Marc Rapport owns Innovative Industrial Properties. The Motley Fool owns and recommends American Tower, Gladstone Land, Innovative Industrial Properties, and Sun Communities. The Motley Fool recommends EPR Properties, Empire State Realty Trust, Gaming and Leisure Properties, Outfront Media, and Ryman Hospitality Properties. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.