Hello Everyone, I have a question and would like some opinions.
As I discussed in a previous post, I am greatly expanding my vintage auto restoration and repair business and need a different facility.
The issue I am finding is basically no commercial landlord in our area will rent to anything automotive if it is in a nice area and if it is a nice building. I completely understand the reasoning behind that as the VAST majority or independent automotive repair shops and auto body shops are total shitholes with broke down cars and junk everywhere.
I need at least 5000 sf to start and as the business grows will need upwards of 10 - 15K sf within the next couple years (if not sooner).
Another serious consideration about renting a shop is that unless the building is already setup for automotive the buildout is REAL expensive (like 6 figures) and I HATE to put that into a rental building.
My biggest fear is getting all setup in a rental building and then having the property get sold and getting our lease torn up.
This happened to a friend a couple years ago. He had a really good auto body shop in a nice area. Been there for years with what he thought was a solid long term lease. Well, the person that owned the property died and the family decided the property was worth more than the auto body shop couple pay in rent (they were correct about this, nice corner lot in a great part of town) so they sold to Casey's General Store, gave him 30 days to vacate and then bulldozed his shop and put up a gas station. Keep in mind, he had what he thought was an iron clad lease but when it came right down it ended up being worthless.
I guess this all comes down to the Commandment Of Control. If you do not own it you are at the mercy of those that do, even in commercial rentals.
I know the other school of thought is that you should rent your businesses facility so you have the ability to move faster if needed and you do not have so much money tied up in property.
Anyone have any thoughts?
As I discussed in a previous post, I am greatly expanding my vintage auto restoration and repair business and need a different facility.
The issue I am finding is basically no commercial landlord in our area will rent to anything automotive if it is in a nice area and if it is a nice building. I completely understand the reasoning behind that as the VAST majority or independent automotive repair shops and auto body shops are total shitholes with broke down cars and junk everywhere.
I need at least 5000 sf to start and as the business grows will need upwards of 10 - 15K sf within the next couple years (if not sooner).
Another serious consideration about renting a shop is that unless the building is already setup for automotive the buildout is REAL expensive (like 6 figures) and I HATE to put that into a rental building.
My biggest fear is getting all setup in a rental building and then having the property get sold and getting our lease torn up.
This happened to a friend a couple years ago. He had a really good auto body shop in a nice area. Been there for years with what he thought was a solid long term lease. Well, the person that owned the property died and the family decided the property was worth more than the auto body shop couple pay in rent (they were correct about this, nice corner lot in a great part of town) so they sold to Casey's General Store, gave him 30 days to vacate and then bulldozed his shop and put up a gas station. Keep in mind, he had what he thought was an iron clad lease but when it came right down it ended up being worthless.
I guess this all comes down to the Commandment Of Control. If you do not own it you are at the mercy of those that do, even in commercial rentals.
I know the other school of thought is that you should rent your businesses facility so you have the ability to move faster if needed and you do not have so much money tied up in property.
Anyone have any thoughts?
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