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IOS Developments Drive Forward Despite Entitlement, Zoning Challenges

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With the trifecta of idling engines, diesel exhaust and the constant presence of 18-wheelers, industrial outdoor storage operators fight an uphill battle getting their projects approved by municipalities.

But rising demand — and the rising prices that come with it — has motivated developers to find ways forward despite community backlash.

Entitlement challenges, zoning difficulties and pushback from NIMBY-esque neighbors slow the production of IOS properties, causing developers to create strategies targeted at avoiding these pitfalls to get their deals done and meet a ballooning market need.

“The lack of available supply for truck terminals has historically been driven by local zoning ordinances,” said Cresa broker Eric Rose, who is based in Omaha, Nebraska. “Most communities aren’t friendly and won’t really add any more of these locations unless it’s via a case-by-case, special-use approval process, which is time-consuming and costly.”

As the continued growth of e-commerce and a renewed domestic manufacturing sector add pressure to expand trucking to handle increased logistics demand, some developers are striking out and figuring out how to add new capacity. With IOS vacancy rates slipping to 3% in 2022, according to Marcus & Millichap research, the need is clear. And with the high rents and sales prices being fetched by existing IOS properties, ground-up development can offer a significant payday, especially from interested institutional investors or truck carriers.

Earlier this month, Industrial Outdoor Ventures announced plans to turn the Twin Lakes Travel Park in Davie, Florida, 24 miles north of Miami, into a 38-acre industrial service facility. Situated south of Interstate 595, between State Road 7 and Florida’s Turnpike, the ground-up development will include two buildings totaling 227K SF and outdoor storage yards that can hold 280 truck trailers.

“This is another great opportunity for IOV to meet market demand by developing the type of modern facilities that today’s end users require and in a location that has a scarcity of land available for this type of asset,” Industrial Outdoor Ventures Senior Vice President of Development and Acquisitions Eric Johnson said in a statement.

Turnbridge Equities also just picked up a 3.6-acre site in Rancho Dominguez, California, near Los Angeles, in a $25.5M buy.

“The deal, another 2.49-acre pickup in the South Bay, aligns perfectly with our strategic vision of expanding our Industrial Outdoor Storage strategy in port-adjacent, infill and high barrier-to-entry markets,” a Turnbridge executive said in a statement.

In nearby Perris, California, Alterra IOS spent $8.5M on a 7-acre towing yard in early May, with plans to renovate it and reintroduce it as an IOS property with easy access to the busy Inland Empire.

Chicago-based Dayton Street Partners has been busy with redevelopments and plans to create new trucking facilities, one of just a handful of ground-up IOS developments taking place. The firm just finished a 95-acre terminal with 500K SF of industrial space at 5800 Mesa Road in Houston, which is being leased to the carrier Maersk.

The firm also has a 47-acre, 1,000-trailer terminal set to open in Baytown, Texas, near Houston and less than 20 miles from two Gulf ports, set to open in June. The terminal includes a 24-foot-tall, 1,382-foot-long building meant for unloading and reloading truck cargo. In addition, Dayton Street acquired two truck maintenance facilities in Atlanta with plans to renovate and reopen.

“The difficulties of finding appropriate space and building new facilities — often renovating existing industrial or vehicle-focused real estate, such as mobile home parks or underutilized warehouse sites with vacant buildings and minimal need for rehabilitation — means it often isn’t worth it to seek out real estate on the fringes of a market,” Dayton Street principal Howard Wedren said. “Financing has been rocky lately so it is difficult to get access to capital compared to those with longstanding client relationships.”

It is key to find locations near big travel hubs and ports, spots already in high demand for industrial developers seeking storage space.

“We don’t go to the outskirts,” Wedren said. “We’re very much into the high-barrier-to-entry sites. That’s our model, and we don’t deviate.”

High barriers are common for IOS projects. In Long Beach, California, the firm Cargomatic received city council approval for an IOS storage site last month near the busy Pacific port, just overcoming significant backlash by business groups and local leaders concerned about additional pollution from heavy trucks.

“There are no guarantees at the end of the day,” Cresa’s Rose said. “So do you go through a multiyear development process, not 100% certain that you’re going to get those rezoning and entitlements you need? Or do you just bite the bullet and buy the existing facility, and you can activate your service immediately upon opening the facility?”

In the case of Industrial Outdoor Ventures’ project in Davie, Director of Construction and Properties Rob Chase said the firm had good relationships with local leaders. It helped that the older travel park was showing signs of age and wear, and many in town were happy to replace the site with something newer.

Even with the support, it is a long process. Properly and fairly relocating existing residents is time-consuming, and even with the relatively simple construction requirements of these kinds of projects, it will still take 14 months of site work and construction once the site is cleared.

On the flip side, an empty site in Jurupa Valley, California, near the Inland Empire, that Industrial Outdoor Ventures acquired on the precipice of gaining approvals for construction in a portfolio purchase, now has to restart the entitlement process.

Chase said he sees the value of existing and new IOS facilities continuing to rise, spurring more developers to attempt more conversions, but he acknowledged that the process is often difficult.

“Having the right zoning is absolutely critical,” Chase said. “An entitlement process I describe as being long and drawn out is nothing in comparison to trying to change the zoning. That’s even more of a hill to climb. You could easily flip these properties, but pushing, sticking with it through to the finish line, is worth it.”

 

Source: Bisnow

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Live Local Act To Create Massive Development Opportunities In Florida, Law Firm Says

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The Live Local Act will significantly change how real estate is developed in Florida, Miami land use attorneys said at a recent webinar.

Held May 4, the webinar was hosted by Bilzin Sumberg partners Anthony De Yurre, Sara Barli Herald, and Carter McDowell. During the hour-long event, the attorneys urged developers to gather with their teams, consult with municipal planning staff, and take another look at their planned projects.

“This opens up a whole area of potential development that was not there before,” said Herald, who specializes in affordable housing and tax credits. “There are a lot of changes. This is probably the most significant land use change in decades.”

De Yurre, who specializes in zoning and complex land use, added “This is the Magna Carta.”

Also known as Senate Bill 102, the legislation was signed into law in late March, effective July 1. Among other things, the bill grants developers the ability to build the maximum amount of units a local jurisdiction allows – and at the maximum allowed height within a mile of a project’s site – on almost any property zoned commercial, industrial, or mixed-use. And that developer can obtain those rights without a public hearing.

The catch is that 40% of those units must be reserved for households earning up to 120% of a county’s area medium income (AMI) for the next 30 years. (A developer can seek the same rights with just 10% of the units reserved for affordable housing, but that will require approval from the jurisdiction’s elected body.)

In addition, SB 102 does not destroy other zoning rights reserved by states such as setbacks and parking requirements. However, the law states that cities and counties must consider reducing parking requirements for affordable projects built within a half-mile of a transit stop.

Besides zoning variances, the code grants developers property tax breaks if they constructed or substantially rehabbed a building in the past five years in which at least 71 units are affordable housing. If those units are reserved for people who earn between 80% to 120% AMI, the landowner is entitled to a tax reduction of 75% for those apartments. If the units are for households earning below 80%, a landlord can secure a 100% reduction on a property tax bill. The catch is rents must conform to HUD rent income restrictions or 90% of an area’s market rate, which ever is less, for the next three years.

 

Source: SFBJ

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Live Local Act: Top 3 Zoning and Land Use Benefits

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More Density, More Height and Less Bureaucracy

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The Live Local Act (“Live Local” or the “Act”) makes unprecedented changes to zoning law that impact and limit local government power. The Act requires counties and municipalities (“Local Government”) to administratively approve multifamily and mixed-use residential projects as permitted uses in any area zoned commercial, industrial, or mixed-use so long as 40% of the residential units are restricted as “affordable” for at least 30 years (a “Preemption Project”). In mixed-use projects, at least 65% of the total square footage of the project must be used for residential purposes to qualify as a Preemption Project.

Not only does the Act expand the areas where affordable multifamily and mixed use developments are statutorily permitted by right without a public hearing, but it also provides unit density and building height benefits for Preemption Projects as summarized below:

Preemption Project Maximum Unit Density: Preemption Project unit density is permitted to the maximum currently allowed unit density for residential development within the Local Government’s jurisdiction. For example, if the maximum unit density in the applicable jurisdiction is 500 units per acre, then the Preemption Project is allowed that same unit density regardless of the maximum unit density that would otherwise apply to that location.

Preemption Project Maximum Height: Local Government cannot restrict the height of a Preemption Project below the highest currently allowed height for a commercial or residential development located in its jurisdiction and within one mile of the Preemption Project, or three stories, whichever is higher.

Preemption Project Approval Process: Critically important, a Local Government cannot require a proposed Preemption Project to obtain a zoning or land use change, special exception, conditional use approval, variance or comprehensive plan amendment for building height, zoning, or densities permitted by Live Local. Further, Live Local also requires that Preemption Projects be approved administratively, without any further action by the Local Government, so long as the development (1) satisfies the Local Government’s land development regulations for multifamily developments in areas zoned for such multifamily use and (2) is otherwise consistent with the comprehensive plan, except of course for the preempted items of unit density, height, and land use.

Other Considerations:

• Beyond the unit density and height as per the Act, in order to obtain administrative approval, Preemption Projects must still comply with Local Government regulations, including but not limited to parking requirements, setbacks, and floor area limitations. Notwithstanding, the Act also requires a Local Government to consider reducing parking requirements for Preemption Projects located within one-half mile of a major transit stop, so long as such major transit stop is accessible from the development.

• While a Local Government is not required to follow the Live Local Act if a project contains less than 40% affordable units, a Local Government may still elect to use the Live Local Act to approve the development of affordable housing, on any parcel zoned for commercial or industrial use so long as 10% of the units in the project are affordable. This provision also applies to mixed-use residential projects that meet the 10% affordable requirement. Importantly, the 10% affordable project language of the Live Local Act is self-executing and does not require a Local Government to adopt any ordinance or regulation before approving a 10% project under the Act.

How to Qualify as “Affordable” Under the Act

Live Local preemptions are mandated only for those projects with at least 40% of the project’s residential units as “affordable” for a minimum of 30 years. “Affordable” is defined in Section 420.0004(3), Florida Statutes, as monthly rents or monthly mortgage payments including taxes, insurance, and utilities that do not exceed 30% of that amount which represents the percentage of the median adjusted gross annual income for the households defined as: (1) extremely-low-income; (2) low-income; (3) moderate-income; or (4) very-low-income.

These “affordable” housing categories, are defined as:

“Extremely-low-income persons” means a household with a total annual household income that does not exceed 30% of the median annual adjusted gross income (“AMI”) for households within the state. It should be noted that the Act provides that the Florida Housing Finance Corporation may adjust this amount annually by rule to provide that in lower income counties, extremely low income may exceed 30% of AMI and that in higher income counties, extremely low income may be less than 30% of AMI.

“Very-low-income persons” means households with a total adjusted gross annual household income that does not exceed 50% of the AMI for households within the state, or 50% of the AMI for households within the metropolitan statistical area (“MSA”) or, if not within an MSA, within the county in which the person or family resides, whichever is greater.

“Low-income persons” means a household with total adjusted gross annual income that does not exceed 80% of the AMI for households within the state, or 80% of the AMI for households within the MSA or, if not within an MSA, within the county in which the person or family resides, whichever is greater.

“Moderate-income persons” means a household with a total adjusted gross annual income not exceeding 120% of the AMI for households within the state, or 120% of the AMI for households within the MSA or, if not within an MSA, within the county in which the person or family resides, whichever is greater.

The Act’s changes aim to significantly reduce the time (and related expense) associated with the entitlement process of qualifying projects. Allowing Preemption Projects in commercial and industrial areas has the potential for creative utilization of these properties in ways previously not possible.

 

Source:  Bilzin Sumberg

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