How many feet of road frontage does the property have?
This question is among the most important when assessing the value of commercially zoned property in a city or county. For some, why this question is so important may seem quite obvious. However, there are several reasons why investors, developers, builders and business owners want to have large amounts of frontage on their commercial properties.
For business owners, it is better for them to have their stores located close to their customers. If they are on a freeway or main road, they will have excellent visibility in traffic. This can most likely bring customers to their stores that they wouldn’t normally see through their normal marketing. Additionally, a customer new to the site can find the store much more easily when they are in line of sight. Visibility on the facades of major roads is a huge advantage for traders and their stores.
Another reason business owners like to have their stores along the main road frontage is the ease with which customers can enter and exit the property. If they are forced to drive through large parking lots, squeeze behind other large stores, and park in a landlocked lot, the customer may be going to a more easily accessible competitor.
Now, that may push it a bit, as a business should be able to attract customers on its own through effective marketing and good business practices. However, it is much more pleasant to access a place of business that is right next to the road, rather than looking for your way in parking lots, other businesses and I don’t know what else. The easier the access, the better the experience for the customer.
Visibility and ease of access are the two main reasons why business owners have their stores on the frontages of major thoroughfares. Let’s see why investors, developers and builders all want the properties they’re involved in to have the largest road frontage possible.
These three people, investors, developers and builders, are the basis of commercial real estate. They have the money; they have the vision and, ultimately, they are responsible for building our communities.
More often than not, these people will choose properties in which to invest the most road frontage, or create the roads so that office complexes, shopping centers and strip malls have the visibility and ease of access that property owners company are looking for. in a profitable commercial property.
The underlying benefit for these investors to develop and build properties with major road frontage is the fact that these commercial properties, known as outside plots, are much more valuable than land enclosed in plots behind. they ! The difference between these property values can be quite drastic.
For example, I was recently appraising a 56 acre piece of raw land in Rome, GA. There was over 2,000 feet of frontage on a main road! The front of the property was zoned commercial, while the back was zoned multi-family. After speaking with the broker and reviewing the comps (comparable sales), it was clear that the outside plots would be valued at approximately $600,000 per developed acre. (They might be worth more if we could have national brand stores on the property). However, those in parcels, without road frontage, would only be valued at $225,000 per acre. This is a $375,000 drop in value simply because the parcels are a few hundred feet from the current highway.
This news has significantly reduced my overall profit margin.
Not all cases are so extreme. However, it is still true that an outgoing package will be more valuable than an incoming package. This is why investors, developers and builders all want properties with significant road frontage. It’s just more valuable!
Business owners and investors will gladly choose a property with main road frontage over a landlocked plot or a plot with little or no road frontage. Use this important fact when evaluating properties and the value they hold.