Finding a Building is Easy. Finding the Right Building Takes Work.
There is no shortage of commercial real estate brokers who can send you a list of available buildings.
You give them a square-footage requirement. They run a search, forward a few property flyers and schedule tours of whatever happens to be listed.
That is not how I approach industrial real estate.
A building is not right for your company simply because it is available. It has to support your employees, equipment, inventory, trucks, shipping requirements and plans for growth. It also has to make financial sense after you account for rent, operating expenses, improvements, relocation costs and the obligations buried in the lease.
My job is not to get you into a building as quickly as possible.
My job is to help you find the right building and negotiate terms that protect your business once we find it.
Industrial Real Estate Is an Operational Decision
Industrial buildings are not interchangeable.
Two properties may have the same square footage and completely different functionality. One may have the power required for manufacturing while the other does not. One may offer adequate loading and trailer storage but create problems for employee parking. Another may look affordable until you calculate the cost of improvements, delayed occupancy or a poor logistics location.
That is why my first questions are not limited to your desired square footage and rental rate.
I want to understand:
What happens inside the building
How products and materials move through the space
What equipment you operate
How much power you need
How many employees and shifts you have
How trucks enter, load and leave
Where your workforce lives
Which carriers you use
When your orders must leave each day
Whether you expect to grow, contract or change your operation
The answers shape the search.
A property that works for a regional distributor may not work for a manufacturer. A facility that works for bulk storage may fail an e-commerce user with significant labor and parcel-carrier requirements. A yard-heavy trucking operation needs something entirely different from a clean manufacturing company.
You should not have to force your business into a building simply because it is the best option on a listing report.
Local Market Knowledge Is More Than Knowing What Is Online
I have worked in commercial real estate for more than 20 years and have focused on Northern Nevada industrial properties for more than a decade. As Vice President of Miller Industrial Properties, I have helped clients lease and acquire more than 2.5 million square feet across the region.
That experience matters, but experience alone is not enough.
Northern Nevada is a relationship-driven market. Information does not always appear online at the moment it becomes relevant. A tenant may be preparing to vacate before the space is publicly listed. A landlord may consider dividing a building for the right user. A company may have excess space but has not yet decided to pursue a sublease. An owner may entertain a sale even though the property is not being marketed.
Miller Industrial Properties maintains one of the region’s most comprehensive industrial databases, tracking available inventory, property details, transactions and off-market opportunities. My daily work also keeps me in direct contact with local owners, developers, property managers and brokers.
That does not mean I can create inventory that does not exist.
It means your search will not be limited to whichever listings appear first online.
I Am Not Here to Sell You the Easiest Option
I represent industrial tenants and buyers because businesses deserve someone at the table who is focused on their interests.
The listing broker represents the landlord or seller. That broker may be professional, responsive and knowledgeable, but the property owner is the client.
You deserve your own representation.
I will tell you when a building has a problem, even if it makes the transaction harder to complete. I will tell you when the power appears insufficient, the loading configuration does not fit the operation or the lease language shifts too much risk to the tenant.
I will also tell you when I believe the building you already occupy is still your best option.
Sometimes the right answer is a relocation. Sometimes it is a purchase. Sometimes it is a lease renewal negotiated from a stronger position. Sometimes it is remaining patient rather than committing to a property that does not solve the underlying problem.
I am not interested in steering you toward the option that is easiest to close.
The transaction has to work for your business after the commission has been paid and everyone else has moved on.
Persistence Matters When the Requirement Is Difficult
Some industrial searches come together quickly.
Others do not.
Logistic Resources searched for nearly a year before securing a facility at Greg Business Park that met its operational and logistics requirements. The final property provided the warehouse functionality, transportation access and flexibility the company needed to support its growth.
That search is a better example of my work than a transaction that happened to come together in a few weeks.
When the obvious buildings do not work, I keep looking. I revisit properties, contact owners and track upcoming vacancies. I look at whether a larger space can be divided, whether a user can sublease excess square footage or whether an existing building can realistically be modified.
That persistence does not mean dragging a client through endless tours.
It means continuing to search with purpose until we identify the best available solution.
The Right Building Should Support the Next Decision Too
Industrial real estate is rarely only about today’s space requirement.
A company may need 40,000 square feet now but expect to double its order volume. A manufacturer may need additional power or equipment capacity in the future. A regional operation may need a second location that serves a different purpose than its primary facility.
Those future decisions should be considered before a lease or purchase agreement is signed.
For Schluter Systems, the requirement was not simply another warehouse. The company needed an in-town Sparks location within the McCarran loop to serve as an ancillary facility to its larger operation at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center. The selected property gave Schluter more convenient access to Reno and Sparks while complementing, rather than duplicating, the function of its primary facility.
When Rinnai America leased 154,440 square feet in Reno’s North Valleys, the facility was selected to support the company’s West Coast distribution requirements and long-term plans. I represented Rinnai in the $7.8 million transaction.
These were not simply square-footage matches. Each property had to serve a specific role within the company’s larger operation.
The right industrial building should solve the immediate requirement while supporting the decisions the business will need to make next.
Existing Clients Call Me Again for a Reason
One of the clearest measures of a broker’s work is whether clients return for the next requirement.
When Jimmy Beans Wool purchased its headquarters at 891 Trademark Drive, the standalone property allowed the company to bring its retail and distribution operations together under one roof while creating room for continued growth. I represented Jimmy Beans Wool in that acquisition.
Years later, after the company was sold and the founders no longer needed the building, they called me again. I secured a long-term tenant for the former Jimmy Beans space, helping protect the value of the property as their real estate needs changed.
Allstates Warehousing & Distribution has also worked with me and the Miller Industrial team through multiple lease negotiations over more than a decade. Its most recent expansion added 77,969 square feet at 350 Lillard Drive and brought its Northern Nevada footprint to more than 300,000 square feet across five locations.
I have also represented Allstates in a 95,200-square-foot lease at 1105 Southern Way and an 84,014-square-foot renewal at 1750 Purina Way.
These assignments were not identical. Each property supported a different stage of the client’s growth and each negotiation required a fresh look at the operation, the market and the lease terms.
Long-term client relationships matter to me because I am not starting over each time the phone rings. I understand the client’s history, priorities and decision-making process.
More importantly, repeat business means the advice continued to hold up after the transaction closed.
Lease Renewals Deserve the Same Attention as Property Searches
A tenant does not always need to move to improve its real estate position.
I have represented industrial users in renewals ranging from smaller support facilities to buildings exceeding 100,000 square feet. Those transactions include Hammond Power Solutions, Legend Valve, Columbus Vegetable Oils, Ventura Transfer and Devine & Son Trucking.
Devine & Son’s renewal involved more than 50,000 square feet of warehouse space, 4.5 acres of yard and a dedicated maintenance shop. That combination would be difficult to replace without operational disruption, but that did not mean the landlord’s first proposal should automatically be accepted.
A good renewal begins with understanding the market and the tenant’s alternatives.
What would comparable space cost? What would it take to relocate? Does the existing facility still support the operation? What repairs, improvements or lease protections should be addressed? What costs would the landlord face if the space became vacant?
Staying can be the right answer. It should still be a negotiated answer.
Buyers and Sellers Need More Than a Listing Too
Industrial acquisitions require a different level of analysis.
The buyer needs to evaluate the building, title, environmental condition, physical systems, existing leases and whether the property can actually support the intended use. A seller needs a strategy for positioning the property and identifying the buyer most likely to recognize its value.
The $10.8 million sale of Vista Ridge Corporate Campus is one example. The property included a challenging combination of office and industrial space during a period when investors were hesitant to acquire additional office product. The successful strategy was to identify an owner-user that could use both components of the campus rather than market it as a conventional investment sale. Paris Lash Academy purchased the property for its new corporate headquarters.
That transaction required more than putting a sign in front of the building.
It required understanding who the property could work for and why.
You Will Know What I Think
Commercial real estate can become unnecessarily complicated.
There are market reports, financial models, construction estimates, lease provisions and competing opinions. My role is to sort through that information and explain what actually matters to your decision.
I will give you my opinion.
I will explain the advantages and the problems. I will tell you what I would challenge in a proposal and where I believe you have leverage. I will also tell you when a request is unlikely to succeed or when another issue deserves more attention.
You are hiring me for more than access to listings.
You are hiring me to help you make a better decision.
What You Can Expect When We Work Together
You can expect me to learn your operation before recommending properties.
You can expect a thorough market search that includes listed, upcoming and potential off-market opportunities.
You can expect straightforward communication about what works, what does not and what still needs to be investigated.
You can expect me to coordinate with landlords, brokers, contractors, attorneys, lenders, title companies and other professionals involved in the transaction.
You can expect me to stay involved from the initial requirement through tours, proposals, negotiations, due diligence and occupancy.
Most of all, you can expect me to care whether the building works after the documents are signed.
Let’s Find the Right Industrial Property
You may already know exactly what you need.
You may only know that your current building no longer works.
Either way, the first conversation does not need to be complicated. Tell me what your business does, what is changing and what problem the next property needs to solve.
I will tell you what the Northern Nevada market can realistically offer, where the challenges may be and how I recommend approaching the search.
Finding an available building is easy.
Finding the right industrial property takes local knowledge, persistence and someone who is willing to work the problem with you.
Beki Dobson, SIOR
Vice President, Miller Industrial Properties
Industrial Tenant and Buyer Representation
Reno, Sparks and Northern Nevada
(775) 830-4428
beki@mipnv.com
