All Forum Posts by: John Vanhara

I am looking at old industrial building to purchase. The ceiling height is pretty low. I am looking for some creative way how to refurbish such building. Build some pylons & increase the height of the roof. I keep wondering if this could be good for CLT (compact laminated timber) to accomplish the goal. Looking for some solution which will make the building nice, but also cost effective. 

If you lease vacant industrial land suitable for truck parking what do you usually charge (please include area too)? I hear Southern California rates are around $0.50 psf.

Can anyone recommend book or some resources about developing industrial warehouses. I am specifically asking about construction. What steps needs to be taken. In what order. What each step should approx. cost, etc.?

Anyone who is using both system can share if AIRCRE listings and comps are on the same level as Costar? For Los Angeles market. 

I am writing an offer on industrial warehouse in Los Angeles area. The area is known for contamination of underground water due to oil extractions & heavy industries. Many transactions come with something found on Phase 1 and Phase 2. Some banks are afraid and immediately refuse financing such deal. Other banks get to know the area. They do their own research and than will lend. It is a long process usually. Usually the Phase 1 names the pollutant (for example Chevron, Hughes aerospace). There are some monitoring wells nearby. The pollution is over the limits for commercial development, but still the life goes on and at the end the transactions happen. The pollution is always from third party like that. And it is being monitored for decades. Very often the pollution levels go slowly down. Sometimes they do not go down. I keep wondering what is the REAL risk in purchasing property like that. Could there be some liability for the property owner even if it is known that the pollution was caused by third party and many years ago. How to assess this? I am currently working on a deal which again has some similar findings on Phase 1 and Phase 2. This time more than what I usually see and keep wondering where to find a good advice. 

Thanks Eric for the comments. I am building as high as I can to use the space. I am able to finance myself (land and building cost) so I am not so worried about carrying cost. The area is in high demand and there are no small warehouses. But the construction cost really worries me. When I started planning the project the concrete till up was around $100 psf build cost. Now my architect tells me they priced similar projects (smaller in size) and got $175 and similar quotes. The warehouse is basically four concrete walls and  small office buildout. 

Interesting. I had no idea Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae do commercial loans. Are these for multifamily only or really any commercial deals (industrial, retail, etc.). How do you approach them to get a loan? Through local bank? 

I am curious of who can give the best rate on commercial real estate purchase these days? Big banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citi... Or smaller local banks? Anyone can share their experience from recent deals? And what rate/terms you got? 

I got few quotes from $10K and up.. and I found excellent attorney who did it quickly and to my satisfaction for 10% of the price 

Concrete till up