- Write the requirement down before you search. Square footage alone is the least useful number in it.
- Industrial zoning does not mean every industrial use is allowed. Codes differ between neighbouring cities, and the municipal code controls.
- If you need outdoor storage, that is the constraint that decides your shortlist, not the building.
- The listed market is only part of what is available. A lot of Florida industrial trades off market.
- Start eighteen months before you need to be in. Six months is a negotiation you will lose.
Write the requirement down first
The most expensive mistake a growing company makes is searching on square footage. It is the number everyone asks for and it constrains almost nothing.
What actually decides whether a building works:
- What comes in and goes out, on what vehicles. If 53 foot trailers deliver, the truck court depth and the turning radius rule out buildings before the square footage does.
- How it is stored, and how high. Clear height decides whether you can rack, and racking decides how much building you actually need.
- Loading. Dock high against grade level, and how many doors you need working at once on your busiest morning rather than an average one.
- Power. Service size, and whether it supports your equipment now and after the next machine.
- Yard. Whether anything needs to sit outside, and how much. This is the constraint that most often decides the shortlist.
- People. Where your workforce lives, because a move across the county can cost you staff who will not follow.
Separate that list into must have and nice to have before you look at a single building. Companies that skip this step tour twenty buildings and remember none of them.
Industrial zoning does not mean your use is allowed
This catches companies out constantly, and it is expensive when it is discovered late.
A parcel zoned industrial permits some industrial uses, not all of them. Outdoor storage of vehicles, trailers, containers or equipment is the one most often restricted, and codes differ sharply between cities that share a border. The municipal code controls over the county code, so the answer has to come from the city with jurisdiction rather than from a county map or from a listing description.
There is a second layer that surprises people even more. A use can be permitted by the zoning and still barred by something recorded against the property: a deed restriction, a plat note, an industrial park association covenant, or a condition attached to an old development approval. The plat beats the code.
If your operation needs anything sitting outside, get this answer in writing before you sign anything or spend money on due diligence.
The listed market is not the whole market
If you search only what is publicly listed, you are looking at a fraction of what is genuinely available, and often not the best fraction.
A great deal of Florida industrial changes hands without ever being advertised. Owners who would sell at the right number frequently are not marketing, because they have no urgency and no reason to advertise. Reaching them means somebody calling them, which is what off market sourcing actually is.
This matters most when your requirement is specific. The more unusual the combination of clear height, power and permitted yard you need, the less likely the right building happens to be listed on the week you started looking.
How long it actually takes
No honest broker gives you a date, because it depends on the requirement and the market. What is predictable is the shape.
- Defining the requirement and the search area. Fast if you do it properly, and it saves months later.
- Sourcing and touring. Longer where the requirement is specific, and longer again where permitted outdoor storage is involved.
- Getting to terms. Letter of intent, then the lease or purchase contract.
- Due diligence. Zoning verification, environmental, survey and inspection. This is where most of the calendar goes and most of the surprises live.
- Fit out and move. Racking, power upgrades, permits, and the permits are frequently the slowest part.
Eighteen months before you need to be operating is comfortable. Six months is a negotiation you will lose, because a landlord or a seller who knows your lease expires in March prices accordingly.
What representation actually gets you
- Off market sourcing. Calling owners who are not advertising, which is where specific requirements usually get solved.
- The zoning answer before you commit. Confirmed with the municipality rather than taken from a listing description.
- An honest underwrite. Whether the deal pencils, said straight, including when it does not.
- Someone driving the dates. Inspection, environmental, financing and permit deadlines managed so nothing slips.
On a lease the landlord customarily pays the commission, which is worth knowing before you decide to search alone.
When Phil is the wrong call
If you need office, retail, medical or mostly finished flex space, that is a different market with different brokers.
If your search is outside Florida and outside a top tier national industrial market, he will tell you rather than take the assignment and learn the market on your money. The exception is RV and boat storage, which trades nationally.
The process, in order
Seven steps, in the sequence they actually happen. Most of the value is created in the first three, before the property is ever shown.
How the sale runs
- 01Write the requirement downVehicles, storage method, clear height, loading, power, yard and workforce, split into must have and nice to have.
- 02Set the search area off drive timeTo your customers, your suppliers and the port or interstate you depend on, and around where your people live.
- 03Confirm your use is permitted where you are lookingWith the municipality, in writing, especially if anything needs to sit outside.
- 04Search the listed and the unlisted market togetherThe specific requirement is usually solved by calling owners who are not advertising.
- 05Tour against the written requirementScore every building on the same list rather than on impressions, so twenty tours produce a decision.
- 06Get to terms and start diligence earlyZoning verification, environmental, survey and inspection are where the calendar actually goes.
- 07Plan the fit out and the permitsRacking, power and permits regularly take longer than the transaction did.
Read next: Buy or lease, Sale leaseback. Then read buy or lease, which is the decision underneath the search.