How To Creatively Lease Space Using Good Property Management Training
A lot of property management training was developed when the markets were strong and space was easy to fill.
How to manage property ‘by the book’ was the name of the game and this is what most property management training focused on.
If you’ve been a subscriber to this property management training newsletter site for any length of time, you know that those good old days are long gone.
Creative Property Management Training = Finding Tenants
Among the three main commercial real estate categories of office, retail, and industrial, industrial space is often the hardest to fill.
That’s because industrial space is at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak.
The classic industrial tenants covered in property management training depend on a strong economy and are dependent on a solid demand for office and retail businesses for success. With office and retail vacancies the way they are now, industrial parks suffer even more.
Unusual Tenants In Industrial Space
Some of the recent creative uses for industrial space we’ve seen include:
Churches
Schools
Fitness Trainers
Artists
Food Manufacturers
Sports and Events
Thrift Stores
My recent property management training article on linkage analysis talked about how to understand where the customers for your space are coming from.
Note that all of the above are what I’d call destination locations, in that they don’t require a classic store front or retail location to attract customers. That’s because the tenant’s customers already know where they’re going.
Friction With Non-Traditional Uses
Keep in mind while reading this article that most municipalities will require special use permits for non-traditional tenants in industrial space, while others might simply reject any creative uses for your empty space.
Why a municipality would prefer to see space sit vacant and lose tax revenue is beyond me, but I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
Some towns and cities may prohibit creative uses all together, so be sure to do your research first before accepting a lease.
Often you’ll see a clash between the planning and zoning department, which might stand firm on the current allowable use for a space and not want to mix cement trucks with cars.
On the other side you might find the economic development department striving to attract small business and entrepreneurs to the town, to stimulate growth and increase tax revenues. So they’ll welcome landlords and tenants who try to think outside of the box.
Creative Ways To Find Tenants For Industrial Space
In our property management training we go through a step-by-step process of how to identify the most likely tenants for your space, how to market to those tenants with a laser focus, and how to set yourself ahead of the competition.
Here are 5 of the reasons why I think some tenants might be attracted to renting industrial space:
Rents are usually half of what a typical retail location might be
The spaces are large and open, often with high ceiling heights as well
There’s usually some office space already built in, good to use for an admin or sales office while the majority of the floor space is still open
The fact that industrial space is off the beaten path may be attractive
For tenants with a high volume of weekend use, the industrial park won’t be busy
With a little property management training brainstorming you’ll find it’s easy to build on this list.
After that, think about the best ways to market to those tenants and go after them!
Jeffrey Roark
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