Dallas Commercial Developments in 2022: Self-Storage, Multifamily, and Flexible Zoning
Specializes in providing actionable insights into the commercial real estate space for investors, brokers, lessors, and lessees. He covers quarterly market data reports, investment strategies, how-to guides, and top-down perspectives on market movements.
When most people think of Dallas, a few visuals come to mind: tall cowboy hats, barbecue, and a ton of land. While those images aren’t wrong, they don’t fully capture what living, working, and relaxing in Dallas is really like.
The current population of Dallas is at 1,304,379 residents, with an average household income of $52,210. There’s plenty of growth, infrastructure investment, strong median home prices, and big companies practically in one’s backyard.
What’s not to love about Dallas? There are plenty of overlooked opportunities in the greater Dallas area for us commercial real estate people.
Study the Local Business Incentives First
What makes Dallas and other great Texas cities so exciting for commercial real estate is the strength of the local business incentives. Texas is a state devoted to business innovation, and state and local governments are aligned strongly with this purpose.
Dallas has a lot of business development incentives to explore, making it much easier to not just find Dallas commercial real estate for sale but to bring your vision for the property to life. Connecting with the local government is also a great way to expand your network. You never know who you’ll be introduced to after you make your intentions clear.
Look Into Self Storage
Why self-storage, of all things? Think about it: we’re a nation of stuff, and buying things is pretty much ingrained into the American consciousness. Try as we might, we aren’t going to become a minimalist society anytime soon. Everything is bigger in Texas, including the houses. Yet despite the average square footage of houses in Dallas, there is still a need for self-storage.
Still on the fence about self-storage? Here are a few tried and true use cases for self-storage facilities:
- Great for college students.
- Perfect for families still “trying out” the area. Sure, most people want to move all of their stuff into their homes. But others might still be looking for the perfect house, which means they need a temporary storage area that’s clean, well lit, and easy to access when needed.
- Small startup businesses that need extra room beyond their house, but not enough to need office space yet.
There are plenty of other use cases for self-storage facilities, but all of them present a great opportunity to solve people’s primary pain points. They need space, and you happen to have just the right space for them.
Don’t Sleep on Warehouses
When it comes to checking out Dallas commercial real estate for sale, it’s important not to skip over warehouses. Gone are the days when warehouses sat vacant with broken windows. That’s just too much space to sit dormant when it can be used and remixed into different possibilities.
Turning the space into a cool multifamily set of units is just one idea for warehousing, but small office lofts are another idea. One of the most exciting parts about Dallas is its very eclectic arts scene, with plenty of people who enjoy living in “unique” spaces.
Navigating Zoning Issues in Dallas
Dallas has an entire section on its city website devoted to zoning. It’s a pretty broad topic that has an impact not just on development but the community at large. Planning and urban design is a priority for Dallas, with the intent to balance between commercial and community interests at all times.
The full zoning rules are on the website, and there are convenient zoning maps to look at. For those looking to pick up land in the area and build something different than the current zoning, an application for a zoning change is required.
Generally speaking, the planning committee wants to work through zoning issues and will become your best source for addressing specific concerns. Based on our light research, Dallas zoning seems fairly flexible, with most zoning set broad enough to accommodate commercial property projects of all types.
A Return to Prioritizing Net Income
Torn between two properties that look interesting? Not sure which one to present an offer on first? Well, one metric that can make the difference is net operating income (NOI). This is basically just looking at all of the revenue from the target property after expenses are taken out. Remember that taxes aren’t part of the traditional NOI equation.
What Can Brokers Learn From the Dallas CRE Scene
Commercial property in Dallas is lucrative enough to explore properties of all types. Agents and brokers alike can gain plenty from looking at the Dallas CRE scene. Here are a few questions and points to consider as you conduct your own research:
- As you look at available listings around the greater Dallas area, are there any specific trends in terms of net operating income from one location to another?
- When it’s time to show clients in your network a property, are you able to lead with specific locations that are more active than others? If not, this is a great place to begin your research.
- Can you build a better list of properties that includes a diverse blend of asset types, such as self-storage and warehouses? What about industrial buildings that would be perfect for small data or server farms?
The more insights that you can draw from the databases you have access to, the better that you can guide not just clients looking for properties around the greater Dallas area but other people that are curious about expanding in other areas.
Good research always makes a difference and taking that extra effort to demonstrate expertise is truly a game-changer. Ideally, we want clients to continue referring us for bigger and bigger business moves, which also grows your reputation.
The Road Ahead
Multifamily, self-storage, and warehouses are just a small piece of the broader Dallas commercial real estate for sale arena. There’s plenty to check out, plenty to invest in, and plenty of new connections to make. The people element is huge in all forms of real estate, and commercial real estate is certainly no different.
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