To Develop or Not? Have Land What To Do?

[Hank Thomas]

Hello BP community!  Question regarding how to best utilize a piece of property.  30 acre tract which is situated along a state highway in TN and is currently being farmed.  The land is under a three year lease and I'm wondering how to best utilize this property after the lease expires.  Ford Motor Co. has just announced they will be building a new manufacturing plant approximately 12 miles from this property which is scheduled to come on line in 2025.  My question is if, how, should, or would it make sense to develop this land and if so what type of properties?  This area is rural with a combination of farm land and housing alone this highway.  Thanks so much for taking the time to make this far in my second post.  Best wishes!

[Hayden W Gibson]

I'm not a developer, but I want to become one in the near future so I've educated myself a little but on the subject. 

Developing land doesn't necessarily mean you build on it. For example, you could get your plot zoned and subdivided and then sell it to a homebuilder. Development is basically a value-add proposition. Building structures isn't the only way to add value. Developing land it a time consuming process, so by getting it zoned and subdivided, you have created value for the homebuilder because they no longer have to spend the recourses doing that themselves. 

Of course, there are a bunch of different ways to develop land, that's just one example. I hope this is helpful!