Choosing the perfect location to open or expand your business is crucial to your overall success. At Invest Aurora, we understand the importance of site selection and we work closely with all of our potential businesses to help them find the most appropriate location that meets their specific needs. Of course, each business is unique and not all businesses have the same needs. In that respect, many different factors need to be considered during the site selection process in order to determine those that would have the most impact on the success of a business’s operation.
Site Selection Factors We Discuss With New Businesses
- Size – A new business must consider the current scope of their operational plan as well as plans for future growth. A business certainly does not want to pay for more space than they need. However, if expansion is in the plans, it is wise to look for a property that can accommodate that growth, rather than incurring the additional expense of a move in the future.
- Cost – There are many cost factors to consider when determining which property best fits within a company’s allotted budget. Of course, there are obvious expenses like rent and utilities. But a business owner needs to explore additional costs beyond those. For example, is it ready to move into, or will it require any interior modifications or repairs? Additionally, leasing vs purchasing can affect the overall cost to a business. There are advantages to both options, and we can discuss the differences during the site selection process.
- Type of Business Space – Choosing a free-standing or isolated location are acceptable options for some businesses, such as a manufacturer that needs warehouse space or a business that does not rely on heavy foot traffic. Conversely, a location in a busy strip mall might be the right decision for others, such as a retail store or service provider, where a location close to other businesses can help boost customer traffic and sales.
- Convenience to Customers or Suppliers – An accurate site selection process will take into account the type of business as well as their customers or suppliers. For example, a business that relies on spontaneous drive-by business would need a high-visibility location. On the other hand, a business with a specialty item or service might have customers willing to seek them out. And while a manufacturing business would not necessarily require high visibility, they would probably benefit from easy access to highways or major transportation routes.
- Parking – For certain businesses, parking is an essential component of a successful operation. Retail businesses, for example, can easily lose customers if they can’t find a place to park. Business owners looking for office space would also want to consider if there is ample parking for their employees as well as safe access to the building.
There are so many more factors to take into account during the site selection process. In fact, the above examples are just a small sampling of the many important issues we take into consideration when helping our prospective businesses discover the perfect location.
Did you know that Invest Aurora has over 300 available properties listed on our website? On behalf of the real estate and development community, IA staff uses those properties to reply to over 50 site selection requests per year; on average, projects we submit information for are $20MM+ in private investment, create over 100 jobs and occupy over 100,000 sf of space. And we don’t work on just the big projects either – our data repository allows us to quickly and accurately identify properties for every type and size of business.
Learn more at https://investaurora.org/site-selection-services/ or contact our site selection specialists at 630-256-3160 to begin your property search in the great city of Aurora.