The Detroit Regional Partnership has raised over $17 million to support site owners with the industrial site readiness program, the Verified Industrial Properties Program (VIP).
The support to site owners and their brokers is at no cost, ensuring that this program is open to owners of vacant industrial sites of 10+ acres across the 11-County region. A true game changer for the metro Detroit area, the VIP program is the envy of many economic development organizations across the country.
With the VIP program, the region has the tools it needs to make sure it is ready for investment. The program reduces the industrial site readiness timeline by as much as 4-6 months.
The VIP program helps site owners and developers advance the site readiness of vacant industrial properties across the region through detailed due diligence reports hosted on a dedicated portal with drone video bringing the site to the viewer, extensive detailed maps, development process and timeline and local contacts in the municipality and portal access. The portal functions as a catalog for prospective companies considering moving into the area, offering crucial details like acreage and site studies at the click of a button. The site currently hosts 58 industrial properties, with plans to scale to 200 sites soon.
Shannon Selby, Vice President of Real Estate, Detroit Regional Partnership
Relieving the Pain Points of Site Preparation
The Detroit Regional Partnership’s VIP program alleviates much of the stress of site preparation from property owners, helping them bring their properties to the market in a timely manner and get them in front of the right prospects. The program helps cover the costs of site assessment, providing property owners with tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars of value throughout the process.
Once listed on the VIP portal, site owners’ properties are featured on a dedicated portal with a comprehensive list of relevant details. This includes everything from a description of the property and surrounding area, extensive maps, drone video, utility information, zoning and land-use information and details on site conditions to workforce data and available transportation information.
Within each site’s profile is a marketing flier that presents site selectors with all this information in an engaging format. Combined with the site’s drone footage, this creates a dynamic experience for potential companies or their site consultants considering the market.
Saving Time in the Site Selection Process
Site consultants can search with confidence, knowing that all site data has been verified by an expert, third-party source. Several site selectors who have worked with the Detroit Regional Partnership have had high praise for the VIP program, saying that it saves them four to six months of time that would have otherwise been spent conducting site research.
Users can search for their desired property by category, such as brownfield or greenfield, or total acreage. The ability for site selectors to log in from anywhere at any time brings the Detroit Region to their fingertips.
Brownfield or Greenfield: Weighing the Benefits
The tradeoffs between brownfield and greenfield sites are an important consideration for site consultants and companies seeking a site.
The VIP program simplifies these considerations by providing specific details on what each site offers. Brownfield sites are often located in close proximity to necessary infrastructure and major roadways, though they can come with remediation costs. Greenfield sites, on the other hand, are less expensive to develop but are typically further distances from infrastructure and talent.
A Package for Every Property
The VIP program offers three levels of site readiness support: desktop due diligence, physical site studies and project support.
The desktop due diligence package – which creates an estimated $16,000 in value for property owners – pays for DRP’s approved civil engineering teams to evaluate properties in several key areas, including utilities, easements, zoning and environmental conditions. Once the evaluation has concluded, the property will be featured on the VIP by DRP web portal, displayed alongside a custom drone video and the complete due diligence report. Sites receiving the desktop due diligence package can qualify for up to an additional $200,000 in further support.
This physical site studies support package creates an estimated $100,000 of value by expanding existing due diligence with a variety of on-site studies. This includes a Phase I Environmental study, a flow test, wetland delineation, a geotechnical report and other assessments to help prospective buyers determine whether the site suits their needs.
VIP also helps site owners seal the deal with the project support package. Verified properties with committed buyers are eligible for up to $100,000 in support for projects that will demonstrably create new jobs in the metro Detroit region. These funds can be used to conduct additional site studies, create a site plan and even invest in project management as buyers begin to consider everything from incentives to utilities.
To receive support packages, industrial sites must be selected by the DRP during its quarterly, 11-County-wide search for vacant industrial properties primed to attract jobs and investment to the community. Each quarter, the Detroit Regional Partnership invites 13 vacant industrial properties to join the VIP program and receive the desktop due diligence package. Similarly, the DRP selects seven vacant sites each quarter for physical site studies.
Sound to good to be true? Learn more here: https://verifiedindustrialproperties.com/site_owners/
Shannon Selby is vice president of real estate for the Detroit Regional Partnership.