Looking for a place for a new business (Orange Park: for sale, real estate)

[granitelady]

Hi Guys,

So far all of you have been extremelly helpful answering my questions, and I'm very thankful!
It's not easy to relocate, and this site has made it not so scary.
So here it goes....we're looking for an industrial property for lease for our business, we fabricate granite countertops and other stone products.
During a search I came across a property for sale that looked interesting, but not knowing the area makes it dificult to decide if it's worth looking into.
Can anyone tell me if a property located on LEWIS ST (32204) is in a good area to open a fabrication with a showroom?
I know the other fabricators are on or around Phillips Hwy, and I'd prefer not to be in the same area.
We do need a high visibilty property, that also alows for our fabrication needs.
Any opinions? Should I check the Lewis St. place?
Any other areas I should consider?
thanks!

[riveree]

Originally Posted by granitelady

Can anyone tell me if a property located on LEWIS ST (32204) is in a good area to open a fabrication with a showroom?
I know the other fabricators are on or around Phillips Hwy, and I'd prefer not to be in the same area.
We do need a high visibilty property, that also alows for our fabrication needs.

As a potential customer, I see it completely different.

I recently went shopping for a sofa. My husband has limited time due to his work, so I pre-shopped at a few places, narrowed it down a bit and then we planned to go look together on a Saturday.

Everyplace we looked at was in the same general area - unless an IKEA, or some other compelling place opens across town, why would I travel across town to shop for a sofa when I have dozens of choices within 20 minutes of my house?

Anyway, mid-shopping we drove past a furniture place that wasn't even on my list, ***but it had high visibility and was around other competitors***, we went in and voila! We found what we were looking for and bought it on the spot (and 3 other pieces we hadn't even planned on).

I think I'm a pretty typical shopper.

The Lewis Street location is not going to have high visibility. You might get the Riverside and Avondale crowd - but that's a small market. Maybe the Orange Park crowd will shop there, but that location is already "out of area" for them.

Jax is really big - with a river and interstates chopping it up - people don't want to drive too far out of their area. To draw the Southside and Beaches crowd to you, I think you'd have to do some heavy marketing and somehow show some real differentiation to make people drive that distance to a not great part of town.

Wherever you end up, I think you'll need to draw heavily on the local demographics.

There's your 2 cents from an ex-Marketing person .

[Lawstudent]

I would imagine your target customers have X amount of dollars to spend. When money is tight not many people think "granite counter tops". I would beat the same drum that everyone played for me. Southside of town. There are plenty of industrial areas and plenty of real estate available in the Southside of town. I am new to the area but have been researching it extensively. Think Southide of town. You want an area with a high percentage of home ownership to be your base I would think. I have seen stats that again point to the Southside of town. Good Luck and best wishes

[granitelady]

You see!
That's exactly what I needed to know, thank you again.
Riveree, you do make a lot of sense, that's why I started this thread, being that I'm not familiar at all with the area, I had no way of knowing how Lewis St. related to the whole dynamics of the town.
Both Riveree's and Lawstudent's inputs were very helpful.
The story about the couch fit exactly my idea on finding the right place, like I said before, I don't want to be next door to all the other granite places, but I do want to be on the "route" to or from them, and visibility is a big thing.
Of course advertising and proper marketing will play a big role, but they can't replace being "easy" to find.
I'll keep on looking and researching, we have untill Sept. to find the right place.
Like Lawstudent, I was also told to live on the Southside (maybe someone should make that area clear on the map...Southside only exists for you guys that live there!) I just didn't know that Southside also offered industrial areas for my business....wow...I would love to live and work on the same side of town!
If any of you see something with a FOR LEASE sign please let me know!
Thanks again

[riveree]

Originally Posted by granitelady

Like Lawstudent, I was also told to live on the Southside (maybe someone should make that area clear on the map...Southside only exists for you guys that live there!) I just didn't know that Southside also offered industrial areas for my business....wow...I would love to live and work on the same side of town!
If any of you see something with a FOR LEASE sign please let me know!
Thanks again

I agree, Granitelady, the terms are confusing !

Maybe this will help:

The Saint Johns River flows North to Downtown then makes a sharp right turn and flows East out to the ocean.

The river divides the city into 3 major regions:

1) The Northside (north of the river)

2) The Westside (west of the river)

3) The Southside (both east and south of the river)

Notice, no "Eastside" ! The river ends up where an "Eastside" would be.

To confuse things further, there are tons of little neighborhoods that make up the general Southside (ones you've heard of: San Marco, San Jose, Baymeadows, etc.). Then there's a big lumping of neighborhoods just called "The Southside" (I guess until we can all agree on better names? ).

And yes, there is even a neighborhood called "Eastside"...I think it's actually on "The Northside".

Ah, that clears it up, huh? Maybe not.