In many metropolitan areas, commercial land for development is in very short supply. Developers are converting older warehousing to shopping areas, demolishing existing buildings to build new projects in areas in transition. However there may be many hundreds or even thousands of unusual parcels of property that have been overlooked. Many are ready for commercial development close to downtown areas, suburban commercial developments, and densely populated areas. Owners of many of these properties consider the property as “surplus” and have not considered development.
Some of these properties are in the inventories of city, county and state ownership and are surplus parcels that were unused in street, highway and freeway development. Others are owned by railroads.
All of these infill properties have one thing in common–they all are unusual pieces of real estate. They are peculiar shapes and sizes. One railroad parcel was 50 feet wide and 26 miles long. This parcel lay unused for many years until a developer utilized parts of it for several self-storage projects. The developer formed a joint venture with the railroad, with the railroad contributing the land and the developer his self-storage development expertise.
Throughout the country now there are shopping centers built under freeways, commercial buildings erected in the unused areas under bridge approaches. In some states, the air space above busy highways is leased and used for restaurants or other businesses that can be used by travelers.
One real estate broker contacted a railroad about surplus property in his area and was handed a stack of descriptions of over forty properties that were available. No one at the railroad was doing anything about marketing these properties.
When you see an unused parcel of land in your area, let us research it for you. We may be able set up a purchase, lease or joint venture that can change that eyesore lot into a major development.