Book Description
Are you an executive looking to physically expand your business?
Justin Smith is a commercial real estate broker who has helped his clients close more than 500 real estate transactions worth more than half a billion dollars in consideration. In Industrial Intelligence, he shares the benefit of his experience to help you make your own expansion a success from beginning to end.
From your initial needs assessment through your ultimate property transition, Smith outlines the playbook he uses with his own clients. Strategic relocation planning, building programming, ideal project teams and timelines, negotiation tactics, tenant improvements…everything you need to know to avoid disruption, delay, and costly mistakes.
Whether you’re relocating or expanding, buying or leasing, Industrial Intelligence will teach you how to find the right industrial building in the best location, leveraging that commercial property as a strategic advantage in growing your business.
Author Biography
Justin Smith is a sixteen-year veteran in commercial real estate brokerage with Lee & Associates. He holds an MBA, as well as a master’s of Real Estate Development from USC, and is a member of the global Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), an association of top producers within the industry.
He has completed over 500 assignments across the US and has negotiated leases with some of the largest, most sophisticated landlords in the world, including Prologis, Blackstone, GLP, Rexford Industrial, and The Irvine Company. He has represented executives in e-commerce, logistics, food and beverage, cold storage, automotive, aerospace, life sciences, and many other industries.
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Potential Questions for Discussion:
- Tell our listeners about your extensive experience in real estate. What qualified you to write Industrial Intelligence?
- What are the “timeless principles” of real estate?
- Why is real estate such an important part of company growth?
- What key market metrics are needed to embark on one’s “real estate journey”? Of these metrics, which do you believe is the most important?
- What is the best city to lease industrial real estate in right now, and why?
- When reviewing the lease agreement, what are the most important areas to pay attention to? Is there an instance you can recall where a landlord overlooked an important aspect of the lease? If so, what happened?
- You describe a renewal strategy called “Always Be the Buyer” in your book. Tell our listeners about that.
- When is subleasing the right path?
- What should buyers consider before they purchase their warehouse? Does it matter if it is a corporate headquarters, manufacturing plant, or distribution center?
- What timing considerations should business leaders consider before getting started?
- What contractors and team members are vital to hire before making a facility move-in ready, and why?
- What should executives do before starting to look at warehouses?
- Who should be on the project team and when?
- How long will it take for companies to find, win, construct and transition into their new warehouse?
- How can you protect yourself from costly lease contract mistakes?
- How is the shift from retail brick and mortar to e-commerce and online shopping affecting the commercial real estate market?
- What is the role of third-party logistics in e-commerce?
- What industries are most affected in the age of e-commerce?
- Are multi-story warehouses coming to the United States soon?
- How are older neighborhoods gentrifying?
- What is cold storage and why is it important?
- What is the difference between the coastal commercial real estate markets and the midwest?
- Why is commercial real estate so expensive? Is the market overpriced and going to collapse?
