Seeking Small Commericial Parking Lot

March 12, 2013 11:46 AM

I'm looking for a parking lot that can fit a few trucks in the DC / N VA area. Ideally it'd be fenced and relatively secure, ideally it'd be somewhat near a metro, and ideally there might even be a little bit of office and/or warehouse space; however, none of these are mandatory. I'm not turning up much in my searches on Craigslist or Loopnet that fits the bill. Mostly just finding huge warehouse or office properties rather than the dinky parking lot that we need.

I feel like what I seek should be out there; when I scan google maps using satellite view, I see many empty sparse parking lots around, especially in some areas. Therefore I was thinking perhaps I could try to contact the owner of one of these properties, and ask if they had spare room for us in exchange for $1000 / month or so. Does this seem like a decent way to go about this, or is there a better way?

In either case, some guidance would be appreciated. If google maps lists the business on a particular parcel, I know I can just give them a call and see what I can find out. However, much of the time the parcel is not labeled. I know I could in theory search tax records online, but the search functions don't always seem terribly friendly, especially when I don't know the precise address; also, contact info doesn't seem to typically be listed. Any ideas?

thank you!

posted by grammalvsu to travel & transportation (5 answers total)

Do you have any self-storage places? They usually also have parking available. I know a couple people who use these for parking their boat that won't fit at their apartment complex (yes I live in the type of place where people buy boats before they buy houses - priorities man)
posted by magnetsphere at 11:54 AM on March 12

Hmm, good thought. I'll look into that, thanks. There are definitely quite a few around in the area.
posted by grammalvsu at 1:10 PM on March 12

Self-storage places will do this. They also may charge more, however.

I'd suggest two strategies:

1) Look for operators of multi-tenant office/warehouse parks in your target areas (or for listings for larger spaces at multi-tenant office/warehouse parks). Call their real estate agents and ask. Some parks will rent out part of the parking lot only -- it's actually pretty common.

2) Call the tenants of the buildings and ask if they're interested in giving you a sublease. Many tenants may have overextended, and if their lease allows, they may jump at the chance to get part of their no-longer-needed space paid for.

I'd recommend starting at the realtor or tenant level -- owners are frequently less involved in the daily operations at these types of properties (either it's a multi-tenant park, in which case they generally have real estate guys for that, or it's a single tenant who handles all their own stuff, and the owner doesn't get that involved). Also, owners who are looking to rent out a ~100K+ single-tenant facility will be less interested in renting to a small-scale tenant like you than a ~100K+ tenant who has ~10K in spare space they'd love to be getting income on.

Oh, and for finding tenant names, Google StreetView is sometimes detailed enough that you can read signs (or enough of a sign to google for it).
posted by pie ninja at 1:53 PM on March 12

How big are the trucks --- are we talking something that can fit into one or two standard parking spaces, or humongeous eighteen-wheelers? If they're not too big, try shopping centers: I know that both Springfield Mall (in Springfield) and Landmark Mall (in Alexandria) lease parking space at their outer edges or parking garages to car dealerships for their overflow stock.
posted by easily confused at 4:40 PM on March 12

@pie ninja -- Thank you very much for your suggestions. I'll definitely be trying this out.

@easily confused -- We have mostly 16' trucks which could fit into a couple spots, and a couple 26 footers which still aren't humongous, but are getting towards the larger end. I'll try Landmark Mall and others I can find.

thank you!
posted by grammalvsu at 3:31 PM on March 23