If your company is considering building a 1 million square foot distribution center in a new city, you probably have thousands of details you need to attend to. Somewhere high on the list, however, you might want to check out the local attitude toward your project.
I know what you're thinking: "Attitude. What attitude? They'll be ecstatic about the capital investment and jobs and new tax revenue that we're bringing to the community. What's not to like?"
Well, if you're looking at it from the overall community's point of view, you're absolutely right. Cities all over the country would love to have your company build a major distribution facility in their locale.
Unfortunately, you're not building the facility in the "general metro area" but, rather, on a specific piece of ground. Before you get too much dirt on your shovel, you'd better find out what your new neighbors think of your project.
Are they excited about the prospect of new jobs and development on what heretofore had been vacant land? How do they feel about the increase in heavy truck traffic? Will any residential neighborhoods be effected by your new location? Forgive me for using the words "aesthetics" and "distribution center" in the same thought, but how well does your facility fit in with the nearby property?
Most businesses don't do this, waiting instead to see if any opposition to the project pops up. I guess the feeling is that no-news-is-good-news, and that if you present your neighbors with a fiat accompli, you save yourself time and hassle. In many situations, this turns out to be the case.
The problem with this approach, though, is that opposition to a commercial building project usually starts slowly and builds up steam gradually. By the time you find out that you have serious opposition to your project - quite often with a platoon of lawyers walking the point - you've already invested a lot of valuable time and money on that particular plot of land.
Once you start sinking money into a site, you're no longer in the best bargaining position, and your opponents will know it, usually leaving you to choose between the lesser of two (usually expensive) compromises.
And that's in the good cases. In some instances, usually involving residential neighborhoods with people who see their property values going down as a result of your new facility, there is no compromise. Their strategy will be to tie you up in court until you eventually give up and find a new site for your facility.
Remember, if you're building a new facility from the ground up, most of your future "neighbors" are used to seeing your plot of land in its original, bucolic state. Most times, they're not even aware of your intention to buy the land and build something on it until they see the heavy engineering equipment moving around the dirt.
That's probably not the best time to find out that the executive director of the local trial lawyers association lives next door.
Means the article is accessible only to our magazine subscribers.
