Industrial property is a broad category encompassing many different types of buildings, each with different characteristics designed to support different business operations
- Warehouse/Distribution BuildingsThese buildings range from 50,000 to hundreds of thousands of square feet in one single-story structure used mainly for warehousing and distributing business inventory. They also have up to 60-foot ceilings, as well as numerous loading docks, truck doors, and large parking lots to accommodate semi-trailers. They may have a small amount of office space and may be served by rail cars.
- Manufacturing Buildings (aka heavy industrial buildings) and Light ManufacturingThese facilities are intended to house specialized equipment used to produce goods or materials. They typically have three-phase high capacity, electric power, these properties might also include heavy ductwork, pressurized air or water lines, buss ducts, high capacity ventilation and exhaust systems, floor drains, storage tanks and cranes. Light manufacturing buildings generally doesn’t require extensive physical plant and space requirements typically provided by heave industrial buildings can take place in flex buildings.
- Flex Buildings and R & D BuildingsThis building type is capable of housing wide range of uses, typically more than one in a single facility, including office space, research and development, showroom retail sales, light manufacturing research and development, and even small warehouse and distribution uses. They typically feature lower ceilings (under 18 feet) and a higher amount of office space than other industrial property types. R & D best suited for High technology industries, such as computers, electronics, and biotechnology, prefer flex buildings because they offer a wide range of uses in one location, including office, manufacturing, and warehouse space. Nowadays, many of these spaces are converted to campus-like business parks with landscaping, shared architecture design, and lots of surface parking and open space.
Industrial properties are purchased by a typical investor seeking a rate of return or can be purchased by and owner-user with a specific business need. Depending on the circumstance both the price per foot and/or the Income Approach can give excellent insight to the overall value.