Vacant second floor property; need help leasing it out
I'm looking to fill a second floor vacancy in excess of 20,000 sqft. What kind of tenants should I try to hunt for to lease to? Property is near several govt building and other class b office space. It's location is near several apartments. A sort of downtown location.
[{"id": "hsa6qch", "text": "Are you a Broker or Owner?", "replies": [{"id": "hsa9nd4", "text": "Owner.", "replies": [{"id": "hsahdyk", "text": "Hire a broker!", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hsb31o6", "text": "Save the money on advertising one space and hire a broker. Even paying brokers commission you will come out ahead compared to it sitting vacant or reducing the price on a one year get them in deal.", "replies": [{"id": "hsb4fc9", "text": "Broker up immediately. A good broker will intuitively know how best to market the space to the type of tenants in your market. And how to save you money in attracting tenants. Reddit will not do that for you.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hsa8ehm", "text": "Smaller units are leasing much faster than larger units. Check with the city to see if you can divide the large space into smaller ones. If you are close to downtown and government buildings, you can probably get small office users such as attorney's, CPA, accountants, etc who only need space in the range of 400-800 SF.", "replies": [{"id": "hsa9rzw", "text": "Lol that's a lot of units to fill 20,000 sq ft ;/. Thanks", "replies": [{"id": "hsaaxkq", "text": "You can laugh about it all you want....have done this on a number of 40-50k SF buildings in southern CA and went from 50% occupied to 95% occupancy. If you want solutions, you need to think outside of the box.", "replies": [{"id": "hsadnpr", "text": "I'm not laughing but that's a lot to lease out 400-800 sq ft over 10k let alone 40k. But this location isn't SF. I've been thinking for over a day on this.", "replies": [{"id": "hsafc0i", "text": "Actually, consider a Salon Suites concept.  Same basic concept of dividing the space down to smaller units except you effectively hold the master lease and your tenant subleases the spaces.     20k is too large for them, but it\u2019s a good use for about half the space.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}, {"id": "hsaqutk", "text": "What if I told you that multiple 400-800 sq ft leases combined could equal as much if not more than one 10k sq ft lease?", "replies": [], "depth": 5}, {"id": "hscfdp0", "text": "Wow an entire day! Take a vacation.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hsak4o4", "text": "Dance studios occupy a lot of 2nd floor spaces in my area.  Not 20k sf but maybe 1/3 of it.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "hsatav7", "text": "How much did you spend on renovations costs?", "replies": [{"id": "hsdoz8v", "text": "I don't have the costs as I am the Broker representing the buildings and the owners did it themselves (with permitting from the city and their own crew). The cost associated with making the improvements after tax write off, depreciation, etc. isn't material to how much money was lost keeping the building vacant. Asking rate for the big space was $1.00/SF MG and we are now getting anywhere from $1.75-2.50/SF on the spaces. The turn over is higher than bigger spaces, but the down time is significantly less. I recommend installing a light laminate wood flooring versus carpet as it holds up much better.", "replies": [{"id": "hsf3ajl", "text": "Hmmm I'll have to chew on this.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hsablyb", "text": "Co-working suites with common amenities", "replies": [{"id": "hsbb6hr", "text": "That\u2019s a heavy build out TIA in a market that may or may not support it.", "replies": [{"id": "hsckmys", "text": "Yah OP has a tough asset here. Full floor plates are tough unless they\u2019re in a trophy asset or higher than 2nd floor.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hsaf4ri", "text": "Is it built out currently or raw space? What type of access does it have? Is it windowed space or dark?", "replies": [{"id": "hsaiz1i", "text": "Built but basically empty. Enclosed dark we plan to replace the roof", "replies": [{"id": "hsakl7g", "text": "Is there a market for storage space?  The cost to install windows and do a full office buildout particularly smaller units where you have to create corridors is probably cost prohibitive. In my market storage space rents for more per square foot then class c office. Is there elevator or preferably freight access?", "replies": [{"id": "hscyr71", "text": "There is and this is my go to idea. The problem is that the building isn't zoned for self storage so I will try to see what it takes to rezone it.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hsaqqlm", "text": "Any offices in the area who may have a lease coming up soon to relocate?", "replies": [{"id": "hsav3nd", "text": "No and it's doubtful my space would be able to compete without undergoing at least a million in rennovation.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hsbbpbl", "text": "Office broker here. \n\nMost of the deals are sub 20k sf for class a,b, and c. Groups are looking for security/ flexibility. Space will lease more quickly if subdivided especially since it is second floor. My most common recommendation to owners is to provide a \u201cKitKat\u201d suite where you can break of pieces to groups that want different sizes. Without walking the space I am assuming it is rough second gen and that there is no corridor in place which unfortunately means expenses for fire architect and engineering costs all went up. You may get extremely lucky and get a government tenant but they will have termination clauses in their leases. Happy to discuss more.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hsbd4z6", "text": "Build some storage units.", "replies": [{"id": "hscketd", "text": "Yep this was the first idea. I guessi can see if I can push for a rezoning.", "replies": [{"id": "hsgdbgc", "text": "Zoning might allow for storage if positioned as an amenity for office tenants.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "htlu4vo", "text": "I think for such a large area, you need to hire a good agent. If the property is near the government office, I will also suggest giving it for office then for residential purposes.", "replies": [{"id": "htlwddm", "text": "Unfortunately such property is expensive to rennovate.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]