The 80-year old former farmer was intrigue by what he saw when he and his adult daughter were tracking down the location of a second hand store that sold house building and interior supplies that had been donated. Just as they approached the location they were looking for, they noticed some large tractor tires out on a grassy slope. Expecting to see a tractor workshop or another supply outlet, they were surprised when the realized the real purpose of the tires.
It was a pretty hot day and they had to park several hundred feet away from what appeared to be the door of the company. Instead of seeing other tractor tires or more farm supplies, instead they walked in on a gym full of athletes training with weights, ropes, and large balls. Turns out the large tractor tires were used as an outdoor drill. The owner of the gym indicated that if they wanted to wait a few minutes they could watch as one of the groups was getting ready to move outside to the tire tossing station.
Never one shy by about initiating a conversation the 80-year old farmer found out that it was not really that unusual to see a workout gym in a commercial warehouse strip. The parking for customers was plentiful and the gym itself did not need any kind of fancy build outs or loading docks. Finding a warehouse to rent, in fact, was much easier than paying high dollar prices for other more well finished spaces.
Manufacturing Warehouse Space Can be Used in a Variety of Ways
The American storage and warehouse leasing industry is worth nearly $26 billion. And while the majority of the industrial warehouse space is used for distribution, storage, and logistics, some space is used for more inventive purposes. Entrepreneurs across America are finding a warehouse to rent for new and varied reasons.
Surprisingly, warehouse space is actually a fairly popular choice for many recreational facilities. An indoor soccer club with three different fields; a recreational gymnastics club with large pieces of equipment that need to be moved in and out to off site meets; or an indoor pitching range where baseball and softball players can train are all viable options for warehouse space. And wile finding a warehouse to rent may take a little time, it is often much easier than finding the perfect commercial location in a more traditional strip mall.
Renting a warehouse, whether for a sports training facility or a more typical storage location involves working with offsite owners and leasing agents. Luckily, many parts of the country offer warehouse spaces in a variety of settings. Sitting alone as a separate building with easy access to a major interstate allows large trucking companies to load and unload merchandise from easy to access loading docks.
In some parts of the country, however, finding a warehouse to rent can be a challenge. Studies indicate that in 2014, U.S. markets absorbed a combined 70.2 million square feet of office space, marking the highest demand since 2006. And while this office space may have been in many commercially zoned areas, many of these companies also required warehouse space to manage, sort, and deliver the products that they were selling.
In an attempt to meet predicted needs, 4 billion square feet of warehouse space was built between the years of 1990 and 2003. though much of this space was built without signed tenants, current retailers who operate both online and offline need a combined 25 million square meters in additional space over the next five years. This additional space is needed so that these retail stores can handle the merchandise that they sell. While a consumer may walk into a retail location and be overwhelmed by the amount of merchandise, the fact of the matter is, the merchandise on the showroom floor is only a fraction of what the company owns. The rest is strategically stored in locations around the country that provide quick and easy access and delivery when needed. Filled with products as diverse as protein bars for athletes and the athletes themselves, warehouse space is used for a variety of purposes across the country.