If you are an investor looking for a great
piece of property or if you’re a corporate officer looking for land on which to
build a new facility, a qualified land professional can be a source of valued
expertise and assistance.
According to the Realtors Land Institute,
land buyers and investors generally need
more than a licensed real estate agent.
Specifically, they would need a land
professional.
Jim Riggert, a Senior Vice President in
Grubb & Ellis Company’s Dallas office,
says that specialized experts understand
the intricacies of land transactions and
can provide the kind of guidance to
achieve investment satisfaction.
“In Dallas, many investors bought land
in the path of growth along the Dallas
North Tollway (DNT),” he says. “That’s a
story that everybody in Dallas real estate
knows and understands.”
Some of the services a land professional
can provide include locating your ideal
property, providing expertise and recommendations, exploring investment opportunities and options, and achieving maximum return on investment.
Smart Business talked to Riggert about
these services and more.
How would a land professional structure a
deal for a business that needs to sell investment properties?
Land developers often ask a land professional to list some of their properties for
sale. Many single family land developers
have a lot of inventory right now and need
to ‘rearrange their balance sheet’ and sell
some land. These developers could be a
big public company or a local land developer. They’re the people that a successful
land professional will have established a
personal relationship with. Some of my
clients have builders that have cancelled
their lot contracts on several subdivisions.
Some would now like to sell land and get
it off their balance sheets.
On the other hand, land professionals
also have relationships with land
investors and land funds that are eager to
purchase land at a discount. I am currently working with several well-capitalized
land funds that I am showing investment
opportunities to throughout Texas. They
are able to perform very short due diligence and close quickly as the opportunities come available.
How would a land professional assist a company that needs to expand or relocate to the
Dallas area?
Dallas is still a vibrant economy. The
company looking to expand its business
needs someone who knows where the
best fit locations are. When that company
calls, the land professional would then initiate a conversation with their real estate
community and/or members of the local
and regional economic development commissions. Some factors in choosing the
right land sites are proximity to the company’s employee base, traffic volumes and
good access to airports. Other factors are
proximity to retail and educational facilities in the area.
Another function of a land professional
is identifying a specific site with enough
acreage for a new corporate headquarters
or manufacturing plant. For example,
Kit Corbin in our San Antonio office got a
call from the local economic development entity to locate more than 1,200
acres for the new Toyota Tundra plant. It
ended up being a 2,000 acre assemblage
with tax incentives from the state and
local municipalities.
Where is the growth in northern Texas, and
why would you recommend investing in it?
An investor needs to target areas that
have strong historical growth. And Dallas’
population and job totals are still growing.
For instance, when LBJ Freeway was
being built, adjacent land near the future
DNT cost $1.05 per square foot. In 2006, a
property in the same area sold for $38.50
per square foot. It’s no secret that Dallas
growth follows the Dallas North Tollway,
which is the ‘straw that stirs the drink’ in
North Texas. Plans have already been
made for a northern extension of the
Dallas North Tollway from U.S. Highway
380, where it currently ends. There are
plans for a regional mall at this intersection and property has traded for $11 per
square foot in 2007.
The two-lane northbound service road
to FM 428 is complete. This is Phase 4A
for the North Texas Turnpike Authority
(NTTA). Phase 4B plans to extend the
DNT north along the Collin/Denton
County line into and through Grayson
County Phase 5. Property at the intersection of FM 428 and the service road have
traded at $2.25 per square foot. One of my
clients has a 744 acre property just to the
west on the Collin/Denton County line
and another 1,027 acre property in Denton
County that the Outer Loop will eventually bisect.
If an investor wants to identify land sites
that will eventually be sold for single family homes, offices or retail, the best opportunities are those that fall in the path of
the future DNT.
JIM RIGGERT is Senior Vice President at Grubb & Ellis Company. Reach him at (972) 450-3265 or [email protected].
