Among the many things transformed by COVID, growing consumer adoption of online shopping and supply chain challenges has driven record activity in industrial real estate across the globe. Whether you’re a manufacturer, retail wholesaler, warehouse user, or distributor, the key to finding the right industrial building has everything to do with understanding the needs of your business and what to look for in a commercial property. While some businesses will focus on an industrial building with large floor spaces and ceiling height, others need expanded electricity capacity, or transportation access.
To help you find the right industrial space for lease for your business, we put together a list of the key features to look for in your search for an industrial property.
1. Location
In most cases, your industrial building isn’t the final point of sale. For many commercial properties, it’s critical that the location you choose has good access to major arterial roads and transportation links for seamless distribution. The time required to access highways, rail, ports, airports, and even international border crossings should all be considered. The most sought-after industrial buildings combine some or all of these location benefits on a single site.
2. Site Layout
Accessibility for trucks in terms of roller doors, deep docks, wide bays are major considerations for most industrial businesses.
The layout of an industrial site will impact how trucks access the facility as well as the how many trucks can simultaneously enter the industrial property. Spacious trailer staging, loading docks, and grade level doors are critical to reduce bottlenecks. Most businesses will look for drive-around functionality or a large enough space for trucks to turn around. This improves loading and unloading times as well as overall efficiency.
3. Interior Height
Your industrial building’s clearance height becomes important for businesses requiring plenty of palette storage or with tall manufacturing equipment. The clear height can multiply your storage space without the need for additional floor space which is leading more users to prefer higher ceilings.
4. Site Coverage
Site coverage is the ratio of the industrial building to the overall size of the industrial property. The ideal site coverage depends on each business’s unique requirements. Some businesses will have a higher shipping container storage requirement, therefore placing a premium on the size of paved areas.
5. Surrounding Population
The size of the local population is important as you consider the recruitment and staffing needs at your new industrial location. By placing your business in an area with a larger population and with access to mass transit, workers are more easily attracted and retained.
6. On-Site and Local Amenities
Consumer demands for industrial space has evolved in recent years, and it’s important that the industrial building you are considering has the amenities to meet your business needs of today and the future. Among several notable amenities to consider, you should ensure your industrial space has sufficient electricity capacity, sprinkler systems, and employee break rooms. For businesses in the growing industries of food delivery services, cold storage solutions are critical.
Proximity to public transportation enables you to attract a broader workforce to your industrial space. Additionally, nearby amenities like dining, housing, hotels, and entertainment are important for employee attraction or relocation, as well as for hosting visiting executives, partners, and clients.
7. Automation Capacity
Automation continues to play an ever-increasing role in industrial buildings. Even if automation isn’t a part of your company’s business model today, when looking for industrial real estate it is important to take the future needs of your business into consideration. If it is possible that automation technology will be incorporated in your business’ future, consider how that impacts your property requirements today.
8. Locating in an Industrial Park
Moving your business can be costly and timely, however you can often reduce the costs associated with relocation if you locate your business in an industrial park. Whether your business expands or contracts over the years, by locating in an industrial park today it can allow you to move your business to a different area in the park in the future, reducing costs associated with moving equipment, redesigning logistic and shipping routes, and reducing the impact on your current employees or even eliminating the need to hire replacement staff.
9. Property Management
When operating a business, executives are most successful when they can focus on growing the enterprise rather than chasing down maintenance staff and vendors. Working with an established landlord with an in-house property management team that quickly responds to issues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, can ultimately save you time, money, and headaches.
10. Benefits of New Construction
As industrial buildings age, often their layouts too can become outdated and difficult to adapt to new and evolving business needs. With new construction, you can be confident that your industrial property has been specifically designed for today’s business needs. Sourcing a new-build industrial property for lease means that you can work with the commercial real estate developer to customize the build-out to your unique specifications.
Since our founding with a single warehouse in 1974, Uniland Development Company has developed and built over 16 million sq. ft. of commercial real estate across the Buffalo & Rochester, NY markets with over 8 million sq. ft. under management today. From new industrial opportunities to supporting long-time clients, Uniland is ready to address your business need with a real estate solution.
