8 Types of Industrial Real Estate
Finding industrial warehouse space is a big undertaking for any business. It’s critical that you choose an operating space in a size that fits your business’ needs. In order to determine how much space you need for your industrial business, you need to find out what type of industrial real estate property best suits your business.
| 1. Heavy Manufacturing These large, capital-intensive facilities house specialized equipment and machinery to produce a wide variety of goods, products and materials. Heavy industrial plants typically require tens or hundreds of thousands of square feet for production, a power source and loading docks. |
| 2. Light Manufacturing Light assembly properties are much smaller and simpler than heavy manufacturing properties. Light manufacturing companies produce smaller parts to be stored and shipped using lighter, portable equipment that can be reconfigured for new tenants. |
| 3. Distribution Warehouse Distribution warehouses primarily ship goods from a centralized location to ensure that consumers receive their products quickly and efficiently, no matter where they reside. These one-story warehouses are generally 50,000 square feet or more for storing and distributing business inventory. |
| 4. General Warehouse General warehouses are purposed more for storage than they are for distribution. Most general warehouses have a lower door to square footage ratio since products aren’t constantly being moved in and out. They are typically used for specialized industrial purposes, such as cold storage. |
| 5. Flex Space Flex storage buildings cover a broad range of uses, as they are designed to give tenants flexibility in how the square footage of the property is leveraged. They feature lower ceilings than most industrial properties and are made up of at least 30% office space, with the remainder dedicated to warehousing. |
| 6. Showroom Buildings Showrooms are a flex space devoted to showing products, offices and warehousing. Generally, showrooms dedicate at least half of their space to showcasing and selling products. The most common type of showroom is a car dealership. |
| 7. Research & Development Research and development buildings combine office, manufacturing and warehouse space to house technology-dependent industries. This type of real estate is often situated in a campus-like business park, with plenty of parking space. |
| 8. Data Centre Data centers are highly specialized industrial buildings that power an extensive number of computer servers and telecom switching equipment. These centers keep the Internet running and make cloud storage accessible for large companies. Data centers average about 100,000 square feet but can get much larger. |
