New Construction Office Building

[Brad Williams]

I am in the early stages of deciding whether to build an office building. I own a non-real estate business and have rented space for a number of years. Ideally, what I want to do is build an office building that is larger than needed for my business and lease out the remaining space. This a very large investment so, I would like any advice that someone who has done this has to offer. So far in comparison to residential, everything seems to be disproportionately more expensive. If you have built an office building, message me on this forum or privately. Any advice is appreciated.

[Karen Margrave]

@Brad Williams What Joel says has a lot of merit, and if you can find a newer building that is discounted to sell quickly or a bank owned property, it can be a good deal.

Also, it would help to know what the local real estate market for office space is like? What is the availability of space, and rents? What made you want to build? What type of business do you have? How many square feet do you need? How much additional space did you want to build? Do you currently own the land on which you want to build, or would you need to purchase? What does land suitable for the building size you want sell for?

Though buildings can be remodeled, and re-purposed, you still have an old building that's been remodeled. Also, older buildings would need to meet the current health and safety codes, and you'd want to make them energy efficient. Most older buildings have 8' ceilings, and everyone likes higher ceilings now.

Newer buildings on the other hand are designed with more modern amenities, wider halls and restrooms, energy efficient heating/air and windows, wired for high tech uses, etc., and usually have more parking. They also have lower maintenance costs, and higher appreciation.

If you have a use such as medical etc. that is more specialized building new is often much cheaper than trying to remodel an older building and retrofitting, etc.

We have built several small office buildings 3000-10,000 sq. ft. etc.