Have access to unused warehouse/office space. How do I maximize this asset?

[workingtitle]

Hi Guys,

I have a friend who has a family that owns and leases out professional industrial warehouses/commercial office space. They have many properties that are currently not being leased, and we want to start making money off of these unused spaces.

We realize we have access to an incredible asset here, so we've been brainstorming ideas of how to make money off of the space we already have. There's no overhead, and it seems to me that to not do something here would be criminal.

Sans leasing them out or doing anything illegal, what would be a smart way to start making some money off of this space?

I know JackEdwards would just throw up some foldout tables, set up telephones, and start selling (anything). Maybe that's the best route?

We're thinking of possibly setting up a "gaming convention/tournament" as we've seen that many people in the video game community go to "lan parties" which are essentially gatherings held in giant warehouses (which we have) where people bring their own computers and play games together.

Any thoughts? Would love to see what you guys come up with. Thank you very much in advance!

- WT

 

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[1step]

sorry somewhat off topic but I wonder if you could tell me how much they lease these for per SF?

Also I think the area that this is located would be important. Major city vs suburbs etc.

 

[workingtitle]

They have properties all throughout the Northern California Bay Area. San Jose, Livermore, Concord, Fremont, etc.

Price ranges from $1-1.65/sqft based on location

 

[JudoTom]

Martial arts studio
zumba
personal training

host free seminar's great lead gen for weight loss, personal training, mlm businesses
rent out to photographers/artists/etc
card tournaments or gaming tournaments

 

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[rocksolid]

Bounce house for kids parties.

 

[Will B. Rich]

Call every political candidate who's running for office and see if they need some cheap space for the next 2 months for phone calls, gathering, etc. Make some money from them since they'll be making it from you!

 

[JEdwards]

I know JackEdwards would just throw up some foldout tables, set up telephones, and start selling (anything). Maybe that's the best route?


- WT

Only if I had a well thought out idea and plan. Space Sadly is the easy part in any business.

 

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[DeletedUser2]

rain free weddings for goths

Z

 

[DennisD]

I would paint some portable walls green/blue/white and set up a portable studio. Proper video needs lots of room to light talent independent of BG. Make some kick a$$ promo videos and web shows.

 

[TopChef]

WT.

Place some Craigslist ads in other cities advertising the space. You can use a fake warehouse with fake pics if you like and try to solicit offers with very cheap rent. Run this ad in a variety of different locations. This should give you some leads to go off of, and point you in a direction of where to look in your own city. At a low enough price I think people will be curious enough to try to rent it from you and you may get a lot of different people coming out of the woodwork. This will flush out the people with a need.

Because you live near a lot of Mexicans, I would consider trying to convert a warehouse into an event hall. A place where they can celebrate quincieras and other such events. Call up some of the local places that rent out large spaces and see what the cost is, find out who is renting these halls, and also calculate the cost to convert a warehouse into an attractive theme for such events.

Good Luck!

 

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[workingtitle]

Thanks guys for the awesome responses so far. Really appreciate it.

 

[CommonCents]

I've seen a few warehouse spaces like that used for premium heated winter storage for boats/Rv's/sports cars etc... But that's in a cold climate.

My family mfg company rents a little temp space in a vacant big box space for palletized raw materials during busy season. They rent the whole space then grid it off into smaller spaces and rent on a temp basis.

 

[Get Right]

Skateboard park
Roller derby
Wrestling matches

 

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[JPBB]

Indoor RC car track/course. Cover charge and sell sodas/snacks or even RC parts and radios. There are RC clubs in nearly all major cities...

 

[LibertyForMe]

Indoor RC car track/course. Cover charge and sell sodas/snacks or even RC parts and radios. There are RC clubs in nearly all major cities...

This is a pretty good idea. The problem with Skateparks is the liability and the physical objects that have to get built. An RC track can be a couple of bleachers and some road cones (at the simplest level). There is suprisingly an RC Drift scene, lots of guys have little RC Drift cars that work great on huge expanses of smooth concrete.

 

[xxcloud9ninjaxx]

This might not apply to your area but if one of the garages is close enough to a main street for passerbys to see you could set up and sell snacks and other liquor store goods.

Advertise on weekends to kids that need a place to have a party, a friend of mine used to pay 100 a night to party out of this guy's warehouse every now and then, good times.

 

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[jtmoniii]

I've looked into financing some skateparks (I'm an underwriter) horrible demographic trends and payback terms. At least for the deals I was looking at.

This is a pretty good idea. The problem with Skateparks is the liability and the physical objects that have to get built. An RC track can be a couple of bleachers and some road cones (at the simplest level). There is suprisingly an RC Drift scene, lots of guys have little RC Drift cars that work great on huge expanses of smooth concrete.