convert warehouse to multi office building to rent out?
i know its hard to make a warehouse into apartments because of zoning/egress/parking requirements but has anyone made a warehouse to an office building? parking requirements are much less and egress is manageable for commercial building
[{"id": "fwng4ws", "text": "Better off converting to small bay flex space.", "replies": [{"id": "fwng710", "text": "What does bay flex mean ?", "replies": [{"id": "fwnldtl", "text": "The conversion from warehouse to office can be tricky. And very expensive.   Unless you have a ton of experience with this sort of thing I would skip it. I had to hold my Architect\u2019s and expediter\u2019s hands and spend a fortune to make it happen.", "replies": [{"id": "fwnnh1s", "text": "I as an architect know how it feels haha. But it can\u2019t be to tricky If the warehouse is open concept and you just add partitions. I mean I know plumbing would be tricky", "replies": [{"id": "fwnqw55", "text": "The partitions are only part of it. A standard office build out not including restrooms is $20/SF for 2nd space and over $65/SF for new class A space. Those wall partitions you are talking about are in fact super expensive depending on how tall everything is. Unless you are getting the building for free it will not pencil.", "replies": [{"id": "fwnr4wi", "text": "I feel like you can just build the wall and have the height just be 10\u2019 without a cieling on top of the office. Kinda like cubicle style. I know that would eliminate any footing or anything like that", "replies": [{"id": "fwolvyv", "text": "You\u2019ll have egress, hvac and fire suppression to deal with. Go to the city planning and see what it takes for the building you\u2019re looking at. Guarantee it\u2019s harder than expected. Also, office is dying. Every company just experimented with work from home.", "replies": [], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "fwnr19a", "text": "If you do not know this product type you may want to learn more about the commercial market prior to jumping into something like this. As an office broker, lenders are not lending on this product type with out a solid tenant in play. If this is spec then expect to come out pocket for it.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "fwo9fsj", "text": "Industrial Developer here. Flex space is warehouse shell with office TIs. It's generally cheaper than traditional office and can feel somewhat more spacious due to the high ceilings.   \n\n\nJust my two cents: I'd have a hard time stomaching an office project right now. People will come back to work eventually but it won't be for a while and it likely won't be in the same numbers as before. WFH is here to stay.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fwnnhxd", "text": "Have you heard of WeWork?", "replies": [{"id": "fwnnm7r", "text": "Yes this is exactly whT I was thinking ! Do something like that but more private offices for teams", "replies": [{"id": "fwnr8xg", "text": "Does your industrial property have the capability of parking 5:1000? Most industrial buildings simply do not have the parking availability to get people to consider this unless in a very dense urban area. With that being said office users are not going to be excited about dense for quite some time.", "replies": [{"id": "fwnrjp8", "text": "Rn I\u2019m just trying to better my design service and create a offer to better help investors and just don\u2019t really know what investors need in this commercial aspect. It\u2019s a crazy idea but I think it\u2019d be cool to have drive in offices. Using the existing bay doors. Just an idea. What do you think investors could really benefit from in terms of design &amp; construction?", "replies": [{"id": "fwnsew9", "text": "Investors right now are switching gears to distressed assets. In my experience with these groups they are looking to right the ship so to speak not reinvent the wheel.  \n\nIf you are looking at re-purposing a product type, I would recommend looking at trying to figure out what to do with big bay retail that does work within the municipalities zoning. I would 100% agree with you that zoning is a key issue, but the fact of the matter is that there will be millions of SF of empty retail doing nothing unless there is a clear plan on what to do. Do not know if you are in the US but would spend time with ULI and NAIOP getting ideas. You may also consider using the big bay office buildings that will never get leased at this point.  \n\nWould also recommend looking at how the coworking groups are fairing both in the stock market and from head count perspective. In my last count, it was not going well and these groups are all well capitalized.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}, {"id": "fwnrov6", "text": "Oh by the way here in LA our parking for offices is 1 per 500 sq ft", "replies": [{"id": "fwpbks3", "text": "Just saw you\u2019re in LA. RUN!  PM and we can talk. Just went through this exact conversion.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fwnwivp", "text": "Industrial/warehouse is becoming hot right now due to the pandemic. If you can position it for distribution or maybe refrigerated storage that might be better. Office is taking a giant shit right now.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]