Some of the spaces to the north of our back yard have apparently been reserved for our neighbors. No telling whether they will be enforced nights and weekends, but it will not be a good idea to park there during the business day.
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Given past parking issues, probably best to assume they are reserved 24/7 in perpetuity.
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Given how long this complex has been here and they haven’t had the need such signage and the complaints we’ve generated, if our members park there, it should be dealt with promptly and not lightly. None of this “I’ll just be there awhile.” If the waste hauler comes and can’t get in, then it’s over. They come at all hours of the day.
Should another space become available in this complex why would the landlord allow us to expand into more space? Would you if that tenant is causing other tenants problems for other tenants renting larger spaces?
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With 1500 plus members and the desire of some to continue the growth rate to keep the title of “biggest makerspace” (or other label) then the next move should include ample parking for the membership at any time of day or night.
How many members were there when the DMS moved to the current location?
About 300 to 350 members
About 300.
There is still ample parking now. It’s just like at gyms: people will cruise and wait for a parking spot 10’ closer rather than walk 50 feet for their work out … which includes long periods on treadmills.
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This is a surprising challenge. Most light-industrial real estate for rent in our square footage range has far less parking per square foot than our present location. 50 parking spaces for a unit twice as large as ours would not be unusual.
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We really make out at this location because we use it when all the other places are closed: week nights and weekends, time we have peak usage. This something that will be a major problem if out next location also has shared parking and any of the businesses are open past 5:30PM or 6:00PM or on weekends.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Occupancy rate (people per square foot) is very low in light industrial / warehouse space. A large warehouse might have only a couple dozen employees, and not much parking for “customers”. Offices have much higher occupancy and hence more parking.
We might consider which of our activities could be housed in (modified) office space if we were to find a space with more office space “in front of” the warehouse/shop. For instance … with the right flooring, could Jewelry/Small Metals be in “office” space? Could Science? Logistics? Non-pallet storage?
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If we’re looking for a new space about addressing the Carrollton City Council? They might be able to help find a place and maybe give the landlord an incentive to house us.
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Actually, that is a very generous number. I’ve found that facilities in the 30,000 sq ft range in warehousing areas tend to have far fewer parking spots than 50. Most support 4 to 8 docks with car parking in the range of 12ish spaces. Our current location has a ton of parking considering. My previous warehouse was in the 28,000 sq ft range and we only had 6 car parking spaces and 2 docks due to the access from only one side of the building.
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A consequence of my small sample. Late 2016/early 2017 I was analyzing the selection of spaces DMS’s broker had forwarded us and 50x spaces for ~30k ft² was depressingly typical. We were being fed locations that were set up for office/warehous so that was a thumb down on the scale. I recall that 125 spaces was the standout corner case.
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Unlikely given my experience on the board.
- City economic development corporations are typically looking for employers and other for-profit enterprises that will generate substantial tax income for the city
- Free buildings should never be thought of as no cost to occupy:
- Most need substantial refurbishment equal to or greater than their nominal value to be fit for a sustained human presence
- If not, they’re surely snapped up by somebody’s brother-in-law long before DMS hears about it
- Any free building that DMS manages to talk its way into is likely to be special circumstances indeed
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We need to convert the front spaces to these
Does DMS have an excavator so infrastructure can start on this right away?
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After the first couple of seconds I thought to myself looks like something that costs at least fifty grand. Lo and behold that is the starting price.
If anybody wants to see Carrollton’s requirements:
Industrial uses are on page 7
http://www.cityofcarrollton.com/home/showdocument?id=12768
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Adult day care 1 per each 500 sq ft of floor area. Lol
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Would it be possible to see those reserved spots in an aeirial view
Might be useful to folks
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I feel like you are being a bit too authoritative on this thread. I’ve personally spoken with multiple city councils and seen openness to providing a facility. Yes they are not free, you still often have to pay something to be there, but they are drastically discounted. We are talking paying no property tax or rent to be there. But, yes we would have to pay for build out, just like every property we would rent.
Second,
The broker (Corby) would of course not suggest property with very limited parking as that was a key concern when we first went to him based on the lady bird facility.
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We do bring folks into the city, we spend money here because of that,
We are an asset to the city,