Several years ago we asked a group of prominent site location consultants to give us a list of 10 major trends in the area of site selection for businesses that are expanding or relocating.
Topping that list of trends was the fact that location searches, where they once took several years, were now down to less than a year. In the four years since we ran that article, that trend has only accelerated. Now it’s probably down to three to six months … and falling.
The reason for this trend is obvious: cash management. There’s an old saying in corporate America, “Not a dime before its time,” that captures the general reluctance of senior leadership to invest in infrastructure before it’s absolutely, positively needed.
As a consequence, by the time the policy decision is made that a company needs to open up an additional facility in another part of the country, the need to be up-and-operating is already there … and getting more urgent by the minute.
That’s why increasingly more companies are opting to occupy existing buildings and facilities, rather than invest the time -- and the money -- in building a brand new facility.
Whether you’re looking for office space -- either downtown or in the suburbs -- or you’re looking for industrial or warehouse space, this month’s cover story will help pinpoint where you are most likely to find available facilities.
But what do you do if your company’s geographic requirements dictate that you locate in a city with a tight real estate market? Are there any options that will still enable you to reach your occupancy date in the shortest amount of time possible?
Actually, there are.
Many communities, such as Memphis, Tenn., have an aggressive speculative building program, with real estate facilities in various stages of completion. The beauty of “spec” buildings is that, in addition to being new, if you can catch them while they’re still under construction, you might be able to incorporate important modifications at a fraction of what it might cost you to do to a completed structure. And the time to completion is a fraction of what it would be if you started the building yourself from scratch.
Another form of “spec” building is a shell building, which is often nothing more than a pad with utilities extended to it. They come in all shapes and sizes and, if you find one that meets your needs, you simply build out the interior, as well as the exterior, to your liking.
As with the spec building, finding a shell building also saves you time in that the foundation, as well as the permitting, is already done. Shell buildings are more likely to be found in smaller cities and towns, as well as in more rural settings.
Finally, there is a trend toward “pre-permitted sites” that are already zoned for a particular type of commercial activity, with all of the various permits already taken care of. These types of sites are generally pre-permitted for certain industries that that particular community or state is trying to attract.
If you’ve ever been involved in the permitting process, this is no small timesaving feature.
The point in all this is that there are a lot of variations and options between moving into the old abandoned shopping center and bring a fleet of earth moving equipment out to Old MacDonald’s Farm and starting from scratch.
It all depends on how much time you have.
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