Understanding City Requirements During Due Diligence Part 3

The final topics that we are going to cover about city requirements are the exterior requirements of your self-storage project, your signage requirements, the required landscaping on the facility, and the noise and light ordinances you have to meet. Any of these things can trip up your transaction.

First, lets talk about the exterior of your building. You can have the most beautiful self-storage facility in the country, but that may not be cost effective. You can also have the ugliest, but will you get renters? You need to find out what the city is going to require. Do they want metal, or do they want brick? What did you budget for? Can you financially make the change and still be happy with your project? Make sure that you know before you get to far into your designs.

Your sign is really important. You need your potential renters to be able to find you. This isn’t as important as it used to be. You used to get all of your renters by your sign. The internet has changed that. That doesn’t change the fact that you want a sign so that your potential renters can easily find you. Find out how big of a sign you can put on the property. If you build a beautiful new facility and you can only put a tiny sign on it, no one will be able to find you. Also, try to discover if you can put a sign on top of the building to attract customers. Don’t be surprised by what the sign ordinances are research them before you start.

Next, what is the city going to require for landscaping. Do they want something that improves the entire neighborhood and costs you tens of thousands of dollars? That will kill your deal before it even starts. Hopefully, they will allow minimal basic landscaping. Make sure you get a bid; because in today’s market, even that can be expensive.

Finally, are they afraid of the amount of light and noise that you are going to make? If you are in a retail area, then it won’t matter as much. However, your light can’t spill out onto your neighbor’s property. This is tough. We want our property to be well lit to prevent vandalism and theft, but we can’t bother our neighbors. You will need to find the right balance. However, the noise ordinances are typically not a problem. You are only open during the day, and you should have leases that do not allow garage bands or other loud occupations in your facility.

Have fun designing your conversion. Look at all the angles and make sure that you are not missing anything that might prevent your deal from moving forward or push you over budget. As always, happy investing.