Industrial Property Investment: A Guide to Listings

 

If you’re hunting for an industrial property for investment, you’re likely to hit up property listings for research or to shortlist properties.

A look at the specifications or description in the listings will tell you all you need to know about the industrial property that’s up for sale. This will also help you to narrow down the ideal unit that can appeal to your target tenant profile.

For those who may not be so familiar, here’s a quick guide to some of the common listings:

Ground floor unit

A ground floor unit is situated on the ground floor of the building and provides greater accessibility to both tenants and customers. A ground floor unit also provides excellent visibility and frontage especially if it is facing a main road. This makes ground floor units suitable for businesses which require prominent visibility such as furniture or lighting showrooms.

Flatted factory

Flatted factory units can be usually found in multi-storey industrial buildings and can be accessed by passenger and cargo lifts. They are suitable for light manufacturing activities. Some companies locate both their operational headquarters and light manufacturing activities within the single flatted factory. Flatted factories usually share common amenities such as loading bays and cargo lifts.

Ramp up buildings

Ramp up factories are usually found in stack-up buildings. Ramp up units can be accessed by ramps and driveways. This provides added convenience and easy access as vehicles can be driven up to the particular unit. Loading and unloading can take place directly outside of the unit. Ramp up units are suitable for businesses that deal with manufacturing, machinery, assembly, logistics or distribution.

Warehouse

Warehouses are used primarily to store inventory. They come equipped with loading and docking bays. Other features may include high ceilings and accessibility for 20 / 40 foot containers. This facilitates the movement, transfer, storage and distribution of goods. Some warehouses may include cold storage facilities to store perishable foods. Other warehouses may also be specially designed to store dangerous goods. Some warehouse storage spaces may also include ancillary offices.

Business park buildings

Businesses located in business park buildings are usually engaged in R&D, high technology or knowledge-intensive industries. These buildings are located in designated business park zones. Business park buildings usually come equipped with air conditioning, security and quality designs. These are usually various facilities within the busines park zone such as F&B outlets, childcare centres and fitness centres.

High-specs industrial buildings

High-specs industrial buildings are usually occupied by MNCs or companies that have a corporate image to maintain. These buildings are fitted with air-conditioning, lightings, ceiling boards and fibre networks for connectivity. Considered a premium industrial building, these buildings have more modern designs such as glass facades. These buildings tend to be for mixed-use and may house operational and production activities together. These buildings usually attract those in the IT, telecommunications, data centres, or engineering sectors.