All Forum Posts by: Cole Bigbee

@Frank Hinck

Both sides are set up for electrical, gas and offices. If you look at the pic closely, on each end of the building we have entrance doors to office. On this type of build, we only finish out one side only and rough-in plumbing for the opposite side, so if one tenant takes the whole building then we do not have to complete the opposite side offices.

Hello BP world- 

Just wanted to briefly discuss things to keep in mind when developing or purchasing a warehouse. When looking to purchase an existing building, always look to see how easily the structure can be divided to accomdate multiple tenants without a lot of crossover from one business to the other. There's a lot of value that can be added to a project if you are able to take one large building and divide it up. 

When developing a building, if you have a large warehouse that you would like to rent to one tenant, that is great but keep in mind that if things change your building needs to be an easy conversion to accomdate multiple tenants. The below pic is my latest project. It is a 25,000sqft building that is setup to be split if 2 tenants need to be accommodated. We were fortunate enough to lease the whole building to one tenant but if something happens to that tenant and we need to split it up, we can do it in a short amount of time.

I hope this post is a help to those looking to purchase or develop warehouse space.

CB 

@Meredith Carter get with Graham and Company in Birmingham. They are local experts in the southeast. I've worked with their Huntsville branch for 3 years and they have never let me down on my warehouse projects.

On rental, depending on size, an average 10k sqft building in Birmingham would lease for $5 sqft total (1,000+/-sq of office and the remainder in warehouse space) When you get upwards of 50,000sqft you're going to be in the low $4 sqft range. Note that these are non-climate controlled warehouses.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

4% is what I normally see in the southeast. I cannot speak for MI. 

In my quest to obtain and read more books regarding Industrial/Warehouse investments, I came across

This book did an excellent job of giving a perspective of both the tenant and landlord when it comes to selecting or developing warehouse space.

Check it out!

@Jade S. 

What other books did he list? I'd love to see the list if you can send the link to the video.

While doing an Amazon book search a few weeks back, I noticed a very limited number of books that covered the topic of Industrial Real Estate. One of the ones I found that was recently published is Industrial Intelligence by Justin Smith. After looking up the author, I decided to buy the book. As of last Friday I completed the read and must say that I greatly enjoyed the book and felt it had plenty of value to add to my current projects.

Since the author mostly reps the tenants, the book is based from a tenant perspective. I liked this as it gave me insight into to things to look for to make my building more appealing and cast a wider net in the tenant pool. It also talked about strategies for lease rates and how the tenants should be prepared and know what else is available in the market. With me being a landlord, it’s just as important for myself to know what is going on in the market and the current rates, so as I can make sure to offer the most value to potential tenants.

Anyways, I highly recommend the book and hope you will check it out!

@Luke Grogan My best guess is the municipality where the building is located requires so much % of the building be masonry vs a standard metal panel. I actually have some metal buildings that have cmu up to 12' with metal panels up above, same as you are describing. On protection of the framing from forklifts and heavy equipment, you can actually put metal liner panels to the inside of the building. They are most cost effective and easier to replace if damaged. Cost wise, it does cost more for the CMU. One thing to keep in mind is it has to be sealed very well to keep water from intruding into the building.

@Henry Clark I always go with a 12' wide x 14' tall sectional door (not a drum door). The 12' wide is a standard for a door manf. It seems the costs for doors start jumping pretty high once you get past the standard sizes. 

Last week we touched on metal building terminology and we’re going to build off of that and go on to inspecting a warehouse or industrial property and certain things to look for.

One of the first things we look at when inspecting a potential industrial/warehouse building for purchase is the building height. Height is the most important because it would not be feasible to raise the height of a building if it was too short. Width and length can easily be added if you have the room on the property but the height is a different animal. Height is important because you want to be able to cast the widest net when fishing in the potential tenant pool!

On smaller warehouse projects the minimum eave height I’m looking for is 16’, so I can install 14’ tall overhead doors. A 14’ tall overhead door will allow anything that can be hauled or driven on roadways to go under the door and the 16’ is needed to allow for enough door clearance. When you start getting into the 25,000 – 100,000 sqft buildings, the minimum I am looking for is 20’ but would prefer to be between 25’-30’. On most of these size buildings, the additional height will allow for specialized machinery, along with enough room for several tiers of pallet rack storage space.

It’s important to always take a tape measure when inspecting buildings and get the height measurement for yourself. I can’t tell you how many times the ad for the property I was viewing had the wrong height listed on the paperwork.

This concludes my weekly post. Be sure to check back next week and feel free to reach out to me with any questions you have.