Office, Retail and Industrial

Office Properties
Retail Leasing
Industrial Leasing

Office Properties

Office buildings range from small owner occupied to multi building office parks. Consider what type of office space you require.

1. Class "A" Property:Building of superior construction and finish relatively new or competitive with other new buildings. Building has an excellent location and attracts highest quality Tenants. Typically, a higher price per square foot.
2. Class "B" Property:Building with a good location and construction. Can compete with low end of Class "A".
3. Class "C" Property:Generally an older building and less expensive than a Class "A" building.
4. Class "D" Property:Older building in need of renovation.

Retail Leasing

Retail properties can range from a single, one Tenant building to over a million square feet of various shops and box stories that sell goods or sell services to the public.

Retail leasing activity has tended to be in the western suburbs because of the rapid population growth and the location of the high technology sector. The highest demand for retail space is along major arterial roads with good access.

There are 8 Categories of Retail Properties:

1. Shopping centers - Group of stories, which offer a variety of goods and services and on-site parking.
2. Regional Center - A mall containing 3 or more major department stores.
3. Community Center - Contains a supermarket and various other stores.
4. Neighbourhood Center - Provides convenient goods and services to a neighbourhood.
5. Convenience Center - A group of stories along a street. Trade area is immediate neighbourhood.
6. Specialty Center - Often has a theme, usually has no anchor Tenant.
7. Free Standing Store - Commercial building used by a single user.
8. Strip Commercial - A string of stores in a commercial area.

Things to Consider Before Leasing or Buying a Retail Property:

• Location - traffic counts, convenience to shoppers.
• Cost of Occupancy.
• Improvement allowances.
• Trade Area.
• Demographics.
• Parking.

What to Look for When Leasing Properties:

• Physical conditional of property.
• Net Income generated by leases.
• Tenant mix and occupancy level.
• Tenant stability - turnover of Tenants.
• Protection from large increases in operating expenses.
• Area growth patterns.

Industrial Leasing

Industrial properties house a wide variety of property uses such as manufacturing, processing, storing distribution, transporting, research and development. Warehousing is included in the industrial classifications and most include some portion of the property as office space in the building.

Industrial properties are located in Industrial Parks or Business Parks. Office/Warehouse properties are usually single-Tenant or multi-Tenant in use and are typically flexible, general-purpose buildings that can be adapted to a small user needs.

Land for industrial or business parks have varied zoning, permitting many industrial uses, ranging from light manufacturing and showroom space to uses which include the use of toxic chemicals.

Industrial space differs from other Real Estate types in the following ways:

• Ceiling heights.
• Transportation access.
• Loading docks.
• Power requirements determine the function ability of industrial space.

Industrial is Typically Categorized by Use:

Heavy Industrial:Auto making, textiles, steel and chemicals are typical uses of such properties. They usually have zero to five percent office space.

Light Industrial:Production lines that assemble components produced elsewhere are located in light industrial facilities. They usually have less than 10% office space.

Warehouse/Distribution:Generally the least intense industrial use is located in the lowest priced lands, in older parts of the city or in suburban fringes. Office use is usually about 15% of total space.

Office Warehouse or Research and Development:Office warehouse, research and development properties could have laboratory facilities, offices, warehouse facilities, or personal services. Typically each property allows a variable combination of office and other uses. Office space usually ranges from 20% to 100%, depending on the market and individual needs of the user. Research and development office facilities are generally used in high technology markets.