Projects Old buildings for shops

Wondering how many of you took an old building that wasnt a shop and turned it into a shop. Ive been looking for places around me, old churches, factories, etc. Some really cool stuff. I've always wanted to find an old ballroom(big one)and turn it into a shop, I think it would be really cool.

If I had the money and an immediate use for this I would buy it in a heartbeat.

http://www.presnc.org/index.php?option=com_estateagent&Itemid=178&act=object&task=showEO&id=400

 

I have many friends who have rented shops over the years and many of them have gone out of business for one reason. The rent!!!!!!!!!

These friends never owned the land and building where their shop was located.

One friend of mine went out of business after more then 25 years of building race engines.

I asked him how much is rent was a year and when he told me $65,000 thousand dollars I asked him one question.

If he owned his own land and buildings and had that 65,000 in his check book every year would he still be in business and he said yes.

I understand that it cost money to build a 5,000 sf shop either out behind your home or on land that you purchase but each month you are getting closer to owning it rather then paying rent.

In the case of my friend he made his landlord a very rich man over 25 years.

He has now purchased a home on 5 acres and the plan is to build a shop out back of around 2,000 sf . This property is located out in the country.

When building a New home if you do it right and build a garage between 800 and 2,000 sf with 12 or 13 foot high ceilings as long as you keep the noise down and don't have much junk outside the place you can sometimes get away with running a business.

My point is the size of the garage and whatever type of business you run will pay for the New Home.

I know this is true because I have done it along with many of my friends.

Jimbo

 

The building I bought in '86 only cost me $16K for 1600 sq. ft., was an old laundermat from the days before many people had washers and dryers @ home. You left your stuff, came back later to pick it up washed, dried and folded, not a coin laundry as this was in 40s till 60s. From then on it went thru lots of tenants and slowly deteriorated, as did the neighborhood. Lately the city is working to bring the area back up and hopefully they are successful. I paid 20% down and only $145.00 per month for 15 years.
Tore out the front double walk in doors and part of front wall and put in a 12' roll up dor. It also had a single walk in door that I bought used. Rewired it for the available 3 ph/230 volts, installed new ceiling and insulation and a good monitored alarm system, and got myself a business license as it was already zoned comm./industrial. This gave me grandfather rights in the rezoning of the area when the "urban renewal" began and it became a residential neighborhood!
I would like to have a larger lot, but it being small keeps me out of trouble with code enforcement people! I also stay out of trouble @ home with neighbors by not working on cars here!
With the economy today as bad as it is marginal businesses all over are closing up and buildings are available at a decent price if you have a down payment and good credit rating. Just be damn sure of the zoning!
Dave

 

Not a shop, but about 40 miles away is an old cotton mill turned into an apartment complex. I think it's awesome. Just think how much history is in each room!

 

My shop was a furniture store, before that it was a pottery kiln so it has big amps for the electric kilns...25x90

I have no headroom for lifts. Costs would be too high to knock it all down to go taller, so I live with it.

I also have 2 other outbuildings, one is skinny 68 feet long which was the sales room for pottery, plus a 20x20, and a spare unused 110 foot long foundation.

 

I work out of an old rail road ice house from the early 1900s. Its down an old dirt road next to the tacks.

 

The old crow speed shop was formally a wood working shop dating back to pre-war. I had to tear out a ton of old duct work for sucking out sawdust. The collector and furnace for burning the dust is still behind Hollywood hot rods. Too costly to take out.
Oldcrowspeedshop.com.

 

One of my best buds just bought the old town library for a song. It's a beautiful old two story brick structure with three roll up garage doors in the back where they used to store the Fire Trucks. Lucky guy!Indy

 

A guy down the road bought the house next door to him, gutted it on the inside, without changing the way it looks from the street. On the back side it has garage doors, and a 12 ft ceiling. Unless you have been in it, you don't even know it's not another house.

 

Mine is actually a 1937 Mobil Station,... It seems it would be difficult to convert some buildings for working on cars,.. IMHO,.. But, I could be wrong.

Good luck to you !

 

Ironically, I was just talking with a guy about our old local Coop light and power building, now vacant, AFAIK. Just a simple brick building from the roadside view, but the backside has 3 garage doors that drives down into the basement.

 

the shop i rent was built in 1959 from salvaged beams, the beams came from an old church that was being torn down, the church was over 100 years old at the time, it's nice to be able to throw a chain over any beam and pull an engine.

 

That sounds awesome!

 

Near my hometown a fellow bought an abandoned grade school the gym is an awsome shop.

 

Try to find garage that has an income producing apartment ,house,or that is large enough to sub-divide into smaller garages.There is always somebody looking for garage space in other fields i.e. plumbers etc.Food for thought.Old fire houses are cool and built super sturdy with tall ceilings and living spaces above them.My friend is doing such a project right now in Pittsburgh.I'll try to post pics later.

 

My shop was part of a sawmill that was built in the early 40's

 

All you guys suggesting shop property ownership seem to live in low-cost areas of the country.

Out here, a decent building would be near $1,000,000.00.

 

Mine is an old 1950 Mobil station.
3500 sq/ft

 

I also know a guy who has an old school for his home and workshop.
Even has the pool.

 

back in the day, a good buddy of mine bought an old trucking outfit. One side had 4 huge overhead doors, and floor space was wide open. Other side had six overheads that fed the loading dock. He backed up six trailers to the doors, sealed around them, and had six 40ft long storage bins.

 

I think thats one of the few things I miss about living on the mainland. Over here "fixer uppers" go for nearly $500,000. I about shit when I saw that the peanut mill in the first post was going for $55,000. So many possibilities there.
I do think its cool when someone can find an old shop and do something with it, for example the shop Chuckles Garage has. That is one cool shop.

 

I have a friend who lives out in Eastern Colorado and bought the old John Deer dealership after it folded and was up for back taxes. The place is huge and he was able to move a full sized mobile home into one bay and lives there. The rest the shop area is for work, and the showroom is for his projects during the extreme heat or extreme cold.
Man I envy that guy's place. My wife would never like it!

 

In 1980 I purchased a building that was formally a feed store. I made that into a shop.. 2 years later I purchased a Grocery store that was next door. We called it the ANNEX.. Both were concrete floors. In 1989 the state of Alabama bought both of them so a new road could be built.. So I made a shop from a grocery store and a feed store.

 

This thread needs more pics.

 

Some places it is illegal to weld in a combustible building. Some places require floor drains with oil/grease traps where cars are being worked on. There could be zoning issues, etc. Not that you have a bad idea, but make sure you aren't stepping on too many toes before you commit to a building.

 

My shop used to be an open ended hay/horse barn. I added an end wall and some doors works fine. Downside is the floor has a sewer grade for the horses and was only 3 to 4" thick. Made installing a hoist a challenge. I cut holes in the floor, dug down and made piers to support the hoist and make it level. Down side to that is it is up to high to get a low car on without extra ramps.

b

 

In the big cities (where rent would be $65k a year), the cost of the land and building will be ridiculous.

Hell, out here in the sticks, I've seen developers give upwards of $3/sq ft (that's $130,680/acre) for undeveloped land in not very big cities.

In NJ, I bet that $65k/yr wouldn't pay the property taxes on a prime piece of ground with a good sized shop building/storefront on it.

All these and many more are on my big list entitled "Reasons I Will Only Live in BFE".

Land here is like $2k/acre, and property taxes are ~$15-$20/$1k assessed value.

The down side is that 3phase is impossible to find (most of the time), and there aren't a lot of gigantic empty buildings for sale for a little bit of nothing.

 

My 40X80, 14' wall shop was a Midwest Dairy truck repair building.
It was taken down and I put it up on my property and added 20 feet to it and a 30X35 canopy.
Its so big that its difficult to get a picture. You have to stand way back to get it all in one shot and then its difficult to get an idea of its size. I usually park a truck by it for comparison. The interior is so crammed that those pictures are a blur. Heres a front shot

 

I hope someday to have a shop that I own. Right now I pay rent and I would rather own. I can't complain, $5K/year for a 30x40. New furnace, bathroom, sink, etc. Owner is really good. I want to buy it from him if he would sell it. I missed that opportunity 5 years ago.

 

You guys are making Californians jealous.
Out here we have to deal not only with insane prices but insane city zoning.

I shared a shop that was "downzoned" to prohibit work on anything to do with cars.
This was across the street from a Honda Dealer and catycorner from a Toyota dealer, and had been a repair shop in the past.

The Supreme Ct has also made it profitable for cities to take property for development. Stay outside city limits, counties are easier to deal with, and check with the jive monkeys downtown before buying or leasing.