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Updated about 3 years ago on . Most recent reply
Commercial office basement use??
Have a contract on a 10,000 sq ft commercial office building which the main floor is almost completely occupied.
Currently, the basement is only about 10% occupied by main floor tenant storage.
The rest of the basement is almost gutted and wide open (except load-bearing walls). Many years ago it was small office-type space but there is no outside light at all.
As I already will own the building and this space is wasted what could I put down there? Is there a market for lower-priced rent in basement units or not? Thought of document storage space but imagine most companies have digitized most of that by now.
Any ideas especially those that currently lease out similar type of spaces.
Thank you
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@Cor Bay I have seen a similar situation like this on a property I recently worked on. To answer your question, yes, basement office space like second floor walk up space does command a lower lease rate. Truth is, if you simply leave it as is, you will always experience a higher amount of vacancy and turn over. The only thing I have seen work in a situation like this is turning it into "gym" space and leasing it at a lower rate. You have enough sf for it and it will also serve as a value add to the other tenants who would enjoy the close proximity. Hope this helps!