Site Selection and Building projects

About a week ago, a gentleman from a local church called to ask about land I have listed.   His church was facing a possible eminent domain issue where a government project might have to take their land.   The church had decided that if they had to move, they would build a new facility.   Accordingly, they were looking for raw land.   Their primary concern in their search was finding an appropriate location.

If only life were so easy.   Finding land is actually much more complicated than that.   Location is certainly an important factor but it is only one of several factors you need to consider.   You also have to consider zoning.   If a parcel of land is not zoned properly, you cannot build on it unless you get the property rezoned.    Right now a rezoning in Jefferson County, KY usually takes a minimum of 9 months and may take up to 18 months.     Luckily, a church may be in any zoning.

You also have to consider infrastructure.   Does the land have water, sewer, electrical service, and gas service?    Sewer service is especially critical in Jefferson County today.    Much of the land in Jeffersontown can not presently be developed because of a lack of sewer capacity in that area.  This is also true in Prospect and several other areas of Jefferson County.

Another consideration is the size of the land.    One thing people forget to consider is the amount of space necessary for parking or the required set backs on a piece of land.   This may make the amount of land you need much larger than you might expect.    This gentleman told me that they estimated that they needed parking for 400 to 500 cars.   That is a lot of parking.   Depending on how the parking is configured, you can expect to get somewhere between 130 and 200 parking spaces per acre.  (probably closer to 130)   So this church would need 3 to 4 acres just for the parking.  

Other important questions to consider:

• Is this in the flood plain?
• What is the topography of the site?
• Is it in a historical district or other restricted use area?
• Are there any environmental issues for this site?

Working through this example - Presently on KCREA there are 239 listings for raw land in Jefferson County.   Of these only 49 are between 4 and 7 acres.    The church would like to be in a residential area, and about half of these are in Industrial Parks.   That leaves us with about 25 properties.    Of these properties, approximately half will not have the required infrastructure (usually the big issue is sewage capacity).   So now we are down to about 12 sites.   By the time we draw a radius around the church, we may only have 2 or 3 sites that could even work for their criteria.

Many people are surprised when they realize how few options will actually exist when everything is taken into account.  

Have a great day.   Be sure to let me know if I can be of help in your real estate needs.

David

David W. McCoy
Associate Broker
Commonwealth Commercial Real Estate
10444 Bluegrass Pkwy
Louisville, KY  40299

DMcCoy@ccre.biz
(502) 379-6005