Author: Amy Bush

 

One more parking space

At Amy Bush Commercial, we are known to be experts in Office Condominiums. There are a lot of aspects of Office Condominiums – common areas, regulations, property taxes, insurance, maintenance – but the one topic that is often at the top of everyone’s list is parking.  Parking can often be a Tragedy of the Commons. Everyone would like to use “just one more space” for their business since it is a shared resource. That works great, up to a point.  If everyone uses those extra spaces, then there no more spaces left.

Fortunately at Amy Bush Commercial, we represent Office Condominiums that typically do not suffer from the Tragedy of the Commons. The best way to solve this issue is for businesses to work together and come to a common agreement about what sustainable and self police. The cities of Raleigh and Cary both have a long traditions of parking regulations, so that helps as well.  Finally, the Condominium Associations in the area do a wonderful job of arbitrating disputes.

Different businesses have different peak parking needs and when we help you with buying or leasing an Office Condominium, we work with your usage and the resources of the property to insure a good match.

As for the regulations, in Raleigh, office space is required to have one parking space per 400 sq.ft. with medical usage requiring one space per 300 sq.ft.    Amy Bush Commercial hasn’t leased a bowling alley yet, but we have noted that the parking requirements there are for five spaces per lane!

We hope you summer has been relaxing and wish you a very happy Labor Day holiday.

It is almost August and it is hot, but that means tomatoes. The supply is good and the quality is great this time of year. The only thing that is debatable is rather to use Duke’s or Hellman’s mayonnaise on your tomato sandwich.

We have never been able to successfully grow them in our backyard without them succumbing to the squirrels in the neighborhood.  So, you can find us shopping for tomatoes and other local produce at the North Hills Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.

It has been a busy summer at Amy Bush Commercial — unlike tomatoes, our business grows all year round.  Let us know if we can help you with any of your Commercial Real Estate needs and, if you have any extra homegrown tomatoes, we can help you with that, too!

Surely, only a matter of time before the Texas based “Whataburger” expands to the Triangle

One of the amenities of an office park is its convenience to a variety of places to go to lunch.   At Amy Bush Commercial, we are quite fond of brown bagging a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and there are times we conduct business over a meal at a white tablecloth  restaurant, but there is no denying that limited-service restaurants are the bread and butter of workplace lunch choices.    We are fortunate here in the Triangle to have a plethora of options conveniently located near our commercial properties.

In the 2017 Foods News Media rankings, Chick-Fil-A tops the limited-service restaurant industry in sales per location.   Here is the list of the top seven – with Whataburger the only missing restaurant in our area.

QSR 50 RANK	COMPANY		CATEGORY	2016 U.S. SYSTEMWIDE SALES (MILLIONS)	2016 U.S. AVERAGE SALES PER UNIT (THOUSANDS)	NUMBER OF FRANCHISED UNITS IN 2016	NUMBER OF COMPANY UNITS IN 2016	TOTAL UNITS IN 2016	TOTAL CHANGE IN UNITS FROM 2015
8	Chick-fil-A		Chicken	7,973.50	4,407.10	1,730	372	2,102	119
23	Whataburger		Burger	2,181.35	2,706.00	122	684	806	15
11	Panera Bread		Sandwich	5,200.00	2,700.00	1,134	908	2,042	70
43	Jason’s Deli		Sandwich	646.59	2,609.00	109	155	264	4
1	McDonald’s*		Burger	36,389.00	2,550.00	13,046	1,109	14,155	-104
25	Zaxby’s*		Chicken	1,891.98	2,318.60	677	139	816	91
27	Culver’s		Burger	1,301.38	2,252.20	597	8	605	46

 

What’s your favorite?   We had a conversation at our office and Panera Bread was the go-to place.  We spoke with another friend who we always see there and he suggested that there are two kinds of people in the world, these who get Panera Bread and those who don’t.

What’s missing for this list?  Our home state star Bojangles probably has the most passionate followers.  How many of us could resist stopping for some Bojangles’ buttermilk biscuits at 6am on our way to the beach!

Hope you are having a wonderful summer at the beach, or the mountains, or back in the Triangle.  We will look for you at lunch.

When I was cleaning out the storage room where we keep a supply of Amy Bush Commercial signs, I needed to get a stool to reach the top shelf.  I got out our little stool.  A stool has three legs – enough to fully support itself but not too many to wobble – there is a lesson there.   Every time I use this stool, pictured above (cute and one of my favorite possessions), I feel sentimental.  Three is a magic number.

“Three Is a Magic Number” was the pilot episode of the Schoolhouse Rock!  by the way.  As Schoolhouse Rock teaches, “the past and the present and the future … three that’s a magic number”.  I hope you follow the link to the YouTube and watch it – it brings back fond memories for me.

Maybe this is why I titled my previous post with the alliteration of “Three A’s” and I enjoyed writing about “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” last month.  The little girl named Goldilocks tastes three different bowls of porridge, and she finds that she prefers porridge which is neither too hot nor too cold, but has just the right temperature. That fable makes extensive use of the literary rule of three, 3 bears, 3 bowls of porridge, 3 chairs, 3 beds – it does seem natural and right.

Noticing these little things brings me joy.  Thanks for reading and letting me share.  I’m off to put up a few of these Amy Bush Commercial signs.  If you see them on the street then you will know a little back story of their installation.

The Triangle’s Skilled Workforce

There was a recent news item discussing a major employment expansion opportunity that read “the other contenders are Atlanta, Austin, Texas; Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.”    Amazon?  no.     Apple?  not them, either.    This exciting opportunity where the Triangle is a finalist is the Army!

Specifically, the Army Futures Command is looking for a headquarters “located near innovative and agile industrial and academic institutions to align with these organizations and in a place where the command will inculcate the culture needed to develop the innovation and synergy required to lead the Army’s modernization effort.”

That criteria matches the Triangle perfectly.

According to the press release, the Army Futures Command “is the most significant Army reorganization effort since 1973. Army Futures Command will be the fourth Army Command and will be tasked with driving the Army into the future to achieve clear overmatch in future conflicts.”   Lead by a four-star General, the command will directly employ 500+ civilians as well as provide for a large pool of indirect jobs in support  of the command.

Go Army!  (and Amazon and Apple of course, too).

Goldilocks eating Baby Bear’s porridge

We hear it all the time, “This space is too big, this space is too small.”  “The cap rate is too high (it won’t lease), the cap rate is too low (it won’t sell).” If everything could be like it seems in the tale of Goldilocks – a discovery of what is “just right”.

As we blogged last month there is much wisdom in these classic stories.  In Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a little girl named Goldilocks tastes three different bowls of porridge, and she finds that she prefers porridge which is neither too hot nor too cold, but has just the right temperature.

Like the weather in North Carolina – it can be wickedly humid, other times it rains on our weekend plans, and there are hurricanes that keep us on guard, but often times like today it is spring and beautiful and green – life is a journey, appreciating when we find the just right.

At Amy Bush Commercial, we would like to help you find your own Goldilocks spaces.  Give us a call and let us know how we can help!

WeWork announced offices at 1 Glenwood in Downtown Raleigh

One doesn’t need to read the Amy Bush Commercial blog (though we’re glad your here) to see all the changes in the way we work in 2018.  But in case you haven’t heard,  WeWork is coming to Raleigh.  And if that doesn’t seem monumental to you, here is what The Atlantic wrote about WeWork in a recent issue: “WeWork is the world’s leading co-working company and the sixth-most-valuable start-up, according to VentureSource. Last year it was valued at $20 billion, a staggering sum for a company renting out short-term office space, mostly to small businesses and freelancers.”

In the coming  years, Commercial Real Estate forecasts anticipate that a significant percentage of office space will  be used as co-working space.  One study stated that worldwide, with a plurality in the United States, there were approximately 1.27 million people working in co-working spaces with the number of co-working spaces growing from 2,000 to 15,500 over the past 5 years.

The first wave of co-working served a relatively small, scrappy set of independent contractors and do-gooders. You cannot go to a coffee shop, or library, or workspace incubator without seeing laptoppers in jeans clacking away.

Sola Coffee in Raleigh

 

The Frontier in RTP

Cameron Village Public Library

The second wave of co-working has responded to an economy in which independent work has become more default than choice.  And the co-working industry is here to stay.  It will probably have growth pains like any other new, disruptive development.  For example, in the 1990’s, full-service office suite rentals were the new thing.  Regus was the market leader, prospered during those boom years, particularly in the late 1990’s as start-ups mushroomed.  The bubble did eventually burst and Regus’s stock took a beating, but the full-service office suite rental market is back and as profitable as ever.

There are several home grown Commercial Co-Working spaces in the Triangle and, as indicated by WeWork coming to town, expect the opportunities to grow.  These are exciting times in the office space world and we hope to hear from you.  Whether you are a buyer/seller or landlord/tenant , Amy Bush Commercial can help you with all your commercial real estate needs.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Plaza de España

At Amy Bush Commercial, our mission is to provide our clients with the highest customer service standards possible. Commercial Real Estate has many facets and every deal has its own unique opportunities and challenges.  We can help guide you though the sales, leasing and investment brokerage journey.   Even on holiday, we think about our relationships with our clients – coming across the impressive Cervantes statue in central Madrid is a case in point.

Here we meet up with Don Quixote and his “sidekick” Sancho Panza.   We love Don Quixote’s idealism and nobility, but also know that we need Sancho Panza ‘s practicality over this idealism.   This contrast is as true in literature as it is in life and business.

So like the great Spanish epic novel, Commercial Real Estate is a journey!  Whether you have a need for Buyer/ Seller Representation, Landlord / Tenant Representation or Real Estate Development Services, we will strive to make your experience both positive and successful.  Your judgement of how we do our job is like one of the most memorable lines from Cervantes, “The Proof is in the Pudding”.

You can see more of our photos and like us on Facebook.  We always welcome your feedback and are especially appreciative of your recommendations.

Spring is a busy time at Amy Bush Commercial with many new properties on the market.   With every relationship, we strive to make the experience both positive and successful though our diligence.  Hard work or diligence, which thankfully Merriam-Webster gives as the primary meaning of the word industry, is the essence of Commercial Real Estate.

This got me thinking about “Aesop’s Fables”.  These fables are a collection of stories designed to teach moral lessons and are credited to Aesop, a Greek slave and story-teller who was thought to have lived between 620 and 560 BCE.  Particularly, the story of The Farmer & His Sons.   Since these fables are in the public domain, I’ll just copy my favorite here and get back to work!

The Farmer & His Sons

A rich old farmer, who felt that he had not many more days to live, called his sons to his bedside.
“My sons,” he said, “heed what I have to say to you. Do not on any account part with the estate that has belonged to our family for so many generations. Somewhere on it is hidden a rich treasure. I do not know the exact spot, but it is there, and you will surely find it. Spare no energy and leave no spot unturned in your search.”
The father died, and no sooner was he in his grave than the sons set to work digging with all their might, turning up every foot of ground with their spades, and going over the whole farm two or three times.
No hidden gold did they find; but at harvest time when they had settled their accounts and had pocketed a rich profit far greater than that of any of their neighbors, they understood that the treasure their father had told them about was the wealth of a bountiful crop, and that in their industry had they found the treasure.