by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
First came apartment condominiums, then came office condominiums and now comes warehouse condominiums?
Yes, you heard right. Warehouse condominiums are the latesy “wave of the future” and they are now here in Jacksonville.
Warehouse Condos USA is building warehouse condominiums all over Jacksonville.
“Anyone who is currently leasing a warehouse, where they have their office in front and their warehouse in back, has the same set-up we have,” said Larry Walshaw, president of Warehouse Condos USA. “But, we sell warehouses and they own their unit.”
Walshaw and his partner, Jim Brady, are building brand new units in seven locations in Jacksonville.
Two are already up and built: Grande Oaks Business Park on St. Augustine Road and Greenland Business Park on Greenland Road.
“Both were sold out two months before we even completed construction,” said Walshaw.
The next four to be built are at the East Park Business Center near Beach Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road, Busch Business Center on Busch Drive, Westside Business Center on Highway Avenue and Argyle Business Center in Argyle Forest.
The final location has not yet been announced. “It’s a substantial park on the Southside,” he said.
Walshaw said the condominiums are ideal for any type of company that needs warehouse and office space.
“The majority of the small businesses in the community cannot buy anything. There’s nothing out there to buy. There are no existing facilities. If they are trying to build something where they only need 2,500 to 5,000 square feet, they can’t find the land available for industrial and it would cost them more than it would to buy one of our condominiums.”
Walshaw’s selling point is that those that are leasing warehouses can own their own warehouse for less than they can lease.
“Within a five year period, they can save anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000,” he said.
Units are 2,400 square feet, but you can buy multiples if a larger space is needed. Price ranges are from $154,900 to $184,900.
“The biggest reason I came up with this idea was that small businesses don’t ever seem to have a chance to buy anything in this city,” he said. “The majority of the businesses in this city are small businesses. I’ve been in the commercial real estate business for 20 years and I constantly had companies come to me who want to buy. I got tired of hearing that. I decided if I build it, they will come and that has been the case.”
The expenses on the warehouse condominiums are distributed evenly among all the owners. “So, it will cost you less to own your facility in a condominium warehouse than it would be to run your own building,” said Walshaw.
The condominium owners pay an association fee that will cover the removal of garbage, management fees, real estate reserves and reserves to fix outside problems down the road.
“The owner pays for all his own inside expenses,” he said. “They are all separately metered for water and electric. We sell the space as a shell and they pay for all their own build out. It is stubbed up for restroom and water and power.”
As the president, Walshaw runs the development company.
“I found the land, negotiated the deal and brought in our team in the development process which are the engineers, architects and geotechnical,” he said.
Warehouse Condos USA has been open for a year. Walshaw said the reason the name includes USA is that he intends to take his warehouse condominium concept nationwide.
“We are going south next year and then we have designs to push this thing,” he said.
The first condominiums were completed in May 2003 and the end of 2004 should complete the next four. “We are taking reservations now,” he said. “It is $2,500 to reserve their spot.”
Walshaw said Realtors are very important to his new business.
“They bring us deals and we pay them commissions,” he said. “They have a lot of businesses who come to them that want to buy a 2,500 to 5,000 square feet space. Most Realtors quite frankly don’t want to deal with a small user because there isn’t much money in it for them. Now, what they can do is pick up the phone and call us. Have them call me. They get registered and we take it from there. We pay the Realtor and they never have to deal with them again. All they have to is to refer over a client to us.”
Sperry Van Ness is Walshaw’s national real estate company that he has for investment purposes. Walsh Enterprises is also his commercial real estate company which specializes in the sale of investment properties, single use facilities, and development and it is an affiliate of Sperry Van Ness.
Capital Development USA is another company that Walshaw and Brady just started to construct build-to-suits for companies.
“We’ll find the land and do the entire development for them” said Walshaw. “They can buy it or lease it.”