What to do with warehouse?

[back2basics]

My father in law has a corporation he inhereted that includes some funds and an old warehouse on a bad side of town. He is always picking my brain about what I think he should do with it and he is interested in a partnership as he knows I will go out and make things happen. He is very reserved and great at putting systems in place. There are a lot of new warehouse/industrial parks here in Jacksonville, FLorida so the rental market is tough. I was thinking importing a product and selling it wholesale from the warehouse and using the Internet to do all the marketing etc. This was just put in front of me this morning and I am busy with my lawncare business. I am still racking my brain and need to do a lot of research but wod greatly appreciate any feedback from the tribe. I have been more than impressed with the material in this sub forum and the knowledge of the contributing members here. I am looking into high end tropical woods, coffee, etc. We are really open to anything and do not mind flying the Jolly Roger on this one either.
Thanks for any pointers.

[EDELWEISS]

How'bout as a training facility for CQB, HRT, etc. On off hours you could open it for airsoft

[WinstonSmith]

How much square footage are we talking?

[AlwaysVigilant]

How'bout as a training facility for CQB, HRT, etc. On off hours you could open it for airsoft

This was my first thought, as I was developing a project near Cabelas for that purpose before Sandy Hook. The prevailing winds of PC killed it...at least for a while. The neighborhood quality will make a difference, kids play airsoft and it must be part of a successful business model in that industry.

[Ian49]

How'bout as a training facility for CQB, HRT, etc. On off hours you could open it for airsoft


Airsoft during after school hours and weekends, training facility when scheduled.

[BlondeGuy]

I've got an ole warehouse where I store, assemble and ship out fitness equipment. I may be interested in selling that business so PM me if you want more detail.

A part of it I have put up batting cages and teams and pitching coaches rent it out from me. Not much upkeep. I have electronic locks so I just need to give them a code to use it.

Outside the warehouse I store various vehicles, but also have pallets and spools set up for air soft course. Along with an acre of woods next door, it's a really good air soft course. I let the local churches us it for free.

Mine is also in a bad part of town but I have cameras and beware of dog signs and the bad guys move on to easier pickings.

[chad newton]

F!!! Selling goods, split it up into self storage units or sell it....

[JPourciau]

In the town where I work, several abandoned manufacturing facilities have been turned into venues that range from Crossfit gyms to live fire simunitions ranges for CQB and home defense. I vote for a combination public range and training facility. With the services you could offer, the fact that it is a bad area would largely be irrelevant to the clientele.

[back2basics]

Great feedback. The warehouse is 80,000 sqft and was renting for 20,000/mo when full. I actually thought about air soft/cqb/personal defense classes etc as it wouldn't require a big investment and it would obviously be fun. Is there a lot of liability issues? Also I would imagine you would have to carry a hefty insurance policy. I would think keeping it is munition/paintball/ air soft based would minimize that. We could even rent part out to systematic or Krav Maga instructor, part of it as a Crossfit gym, and the rest air soft etc. only thing is with it being away from a lot of the decent neighborhoods it may hamper the Crossfit etc. the self storage would require a build out.

[spanky68]

mountain bike/skateboard park for the kids

[Steve Paulson]

That's a lot of real estate. You could do a number of different things, all at the same time. You could possibly lease some of the space to help pay the bills while you have some fun.

How about a go-cart track? Google "F1 Boston". Been there--crazy fun. Not your average slow-poke go-carts. Racing suits, helmets, drift-capable carts--the whole shot. Set up a bar & grill along with it and you've got yourself a money tree. You just became a destination.

Airsoft/training facilities could be great. Consider also the possibility of appealing to the gamer crowd. Set up a Halo-esque battle zone, acquire laser tag type equipment, comms, etc... There's a laser tag place locally and I've played there. It's fun, but very small. It could be so much more fun if it were bigger. And of course there's always paintball. Again--add good food & drink and you've become a destination.

Of course, I'm not the one to take advice from, but it's fun to dream with other people's stuff. :grin:

[jlbraun]

I have often wanted to see a combined airsoft range, weight training, and Krav Maga business.

[pangloss]

When I lived in Birmingham, there was an indoor range in an old warehouse. I went there once and it seemed like a decent enough place. It was large enough that they set up IDPA stages inside a couple of nights a month (or maybe one night a week?).

[OdieWon]

With 80k feet you can do virtually ANYTHING.

Indoor gun range? (including rifle range)
Indoor SI Hosting facility
Dog Brothers/AMOK!/MBC hosting facility

Cremation Facility (he he)

Storage rentals are fabulous as they can provide residual income that is continuous.

[BlondeGuy]

If you don't want it to be management intensive, RV and Boat storage would bring in $.

[chad newton]

If you don't want it to be management intensive, RV and Boat storage would bring in $.
I would do both rv/boat and individual. See where it goes from there.

[back2basics]

Yeah the post office and a produce company were in it for 20 years. Now it's full but the leases are not ideal and are not long term so we are trying to come up with some ideas. I am going to see it early next week. For obvious reasons, I wam favoring an air soft, Krav, Crossfit type setup for part of it. However I worry that retail will struggle in that area. I am definitely going to look into storage. I was thinking of doing a business model where we come pick up your stuff and deliver it when you need it back etc. the rev/boat storage seems like a great idea as it wouldn't require much and could be built out as required. Thanks again, I really appreciate all the great ideas.

[LawDog]

I had three thoughts. First, it seems like you are coming at this backwards. Before you buy a backpack, you have to consider what you are going to put in it. Here, you are starting with the pack. Second, you are allowing the space to control the function. Any business you create starts with you. The first consideration should be to figure out what you can do well and profitably. Third, this question is basically, "What can I do with this asset?" Imagine asking, "I have $500k. What should I do with it?"

It might not make any sense at all to use the warehouse. You might be better off selling it and investing the proceeds into your lawn business. Of course, if the real estate value is currently depressed, that would not be the best long-term plan.

Until then, having an 80,000 square foot playground to use for airsoft with your friends sounds like a lot of fun.

[back2basics]

Yeah the problem is that warehouse space is a saturated market here. Can't sell right now and it is currently rented out so we are just brainstorming for when leases run out. Indoor boat /rv storage seems like it wouldn't require much hands on and there is alot of water around here. Or possibly get into a simple, high demand manufacturing business like pallets or hangers.

[Base Bleed]

indoor drift track

[LawDog]

I guess I'll toss out my own crazy idea: what about a velodrome? Is cycling big in your area? I have no idea if there is any money in this. But there are many times in winter that I think about how cool it would be to go race around an indoor track on a bike.

[Tom S]

A Krav/crossfit/tactical training facility can benefit greatly
from location. If someone has to violate the 3s rule
to get there you may rethink it for that location.

You might approach some local building materials distributors
(Especially drywall) about leasing some space. As the end of year
approaches and price increases are announced, there is always a fight to stockpile
material at the lower cost. Materials like pipe, drywall, lumber, metal studs, etc are
all viable items because they require lots of space to store. There is no reason you
couldn't store material from multiple suppliers and multiple trades.

[Dr_Dave]

here's one that I saw someplace. I know it's a bit strange but there's the Zombie hunting thing. Basically use paintball stuff or actual pistols (but you need to be very careful that there's nothing but training rounds) using Simunition. here's the site http://www.shootextreme.com/.
With the WWZ movie coming out, walking dead and the zombie craze you have a chance to make some money, then use it for CQB training with the local LEOs.

[MRick]

If its empty near the Halloween season you can also bring in money setting it up as a haunted house. I've seen large warehouses in my area get real creative and bring in big money from Sept to October with this. This would be temporary of course and you could revert it back to whatever your gonna do with it after.

[back2basics]

Yeah he ended up renewing the lease on 1/3 of it for 3 years so that is good. It is just in an out of the way area that wouldn't cater to most businesses.

[BlondeGuy]

Yeah he ended up renewing the lease on 1/3 of it for 3 years so that is good. It is just in an out of the way area that wouldn't cater to most businesses.
That's good. Cash flow is always good to have.

[sarge11c]

There is a lot of empty warehouse/factory space here in Jacksonville, any ideas would really depend on what part of town you are talking about. Something that might be popular east of I-95 might not work on the westside of the city.

[Jons999]

I read recently that self storage is one of the most profitable small businesses in the country right now. The fact that it is in a bad neighborhood probably doesn't matter, people that are renting/moving in and out of cheap apartments always need a place to store stuff, and if they dont pay the bill you auction off there stuff.

[back2basics]

Yeah we are going to see if the other company renews. If not we may pursue boat/rv/ self storage. Maybe even offer pick up/delivery.