Commercial property types – industrial properties
These forms of commercial property comprise a very complex and specialized type of real estate investment. The investor/developer has to understand the local industrial labor force, utilities and local transportation facilities, along with knowing how to comply with all the governmental regulations that cover local zoning and environmental concerns.
Among these types of commercial buildings are properties that help house manufacturing and warehouse operations of companies. They include buildings in business parks, industrial parks, manufacturing buildings/plants, warehouses and self-storage facilities.
In addition, these buildings tend to be classified as either general purpose (offering a wide range of uses), special purpose (which have particular parts that limit their type of use) or single purpose (obviously, suitable for only one use – for example, a brewery).
Industrial property development must be on property that is properly zoned for industrial usage. This land has to be able to accommodate the buildings as well as off-street parking. Most importantly, the property must be close to major transportation (major highways, railroads and/or airports) that will help serve the manufacturing operations in these buildings.
Types of industrial property investments
Business parks
Buildings in business parks are traditionally composed of sets of mixed-use, low-rise buildings that are employed for both light manufacturing and office use.
Industrial parks
In the interests of local zoning, heavy and light manufacturing operations are usually zoned for specific areas within towns known as industrial parks. This is done to keep the potential for noise or chemical pollution separated geographically from quieter residential neighborhoods.
Manufacturing buildings
Manufacturing buildings were traditionally built for the specific product to be produced. However, many manufacturing buildings are reconverted from previous product production, and are retrofitted for the new product to be produced.
Warehouse buildings
Warehouses can be separate standalone buildings, or they can be part of a larger building with office space and/or manufacturing space included. They are designed strictly to allow for storage of goods and merchandise, as well as to create for ease of shipment of smaller amounts of merchandise.
Self-storage facilities
Self-storage facilities are usually simple secure facilities that allow the public to rent out unfinished space for storage purposes. Depending on their location (and land values in the area), they can be laid out as horizontal storage space, or as a multi-leveled building.
Land
Land development for commercial properties is an extremely specialized niche within the property investing community. It requires great knowledge and research on the particular form of commercial property to be invested in and developed. For example, any land that is to be purchased for any change in land use, will require a lengthy step process of local governmental approvals before any development would ever be allowed. This will require utilizing local attorneys well-versed and experienced in land use law, local architects and contractors who specialize in the form of development that’s proposed, as well as who are also well-known within the community where the development will take place.
Local development can become quite political as the time-worn trade-offs of “jobs versus over-development” are debated in very public forums in order to win approvals for any given project.
photos courtesy of snappyfacilityservices.com, co.westmoreland.pa.us, spanps.com