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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-06-23 Tyler Martin 999 West Main Street,Suite 1300 IIIII I I, WA K FBI E L D Boise, ID 837 Tel +1 208 287 9500 Fax +1 208 287 9501 cushmanwakefield.com June 18, 2025 Caleb Hood City of Meridian 33 E Broadway Ave Meridian, ID 83642 RE: Flex Use- Office/Showroom and Parking Requirements Mr. Hood, I am writing to address potential changes to the Flex Specific Use Standards. In my current role, I am an industrial real estate broker with Cushman &Wakefield. Previously I was a commercial appraiser in Ada and Canyon Counties for over fifteen years. As a longtime member of the Treasure Valley community, my primary goal in presenting this letter is to support responsible commercial development that will house good payingjobs well into the future. As written, the proposed UDC change requires too great a percentage of office/showroom space to support adequate future development. Flex and smaller warehouse buildings are significant employment drivers. One only has to drive Adkins Way, Commercial Street, or Lanark to see all of the cars, and commerce, on these streets. Currently smaller industrial and flex spaces are in very short supply in our market with vacancies well below 5%. Meridian is the future commercial core of the Treasure Valley. Over time more employers will look to locate in Meridian to take advantage of its central location and strong employee base. The nature of employers looking at and operating in our market has changed dramatically over the past ten years. We are seeing increasing amounts of service, high tech machining, manufacturing, assembly, and installation companies. The companies I am working with who are looking for small bay industrial and flex spaces generally employ a large number of people with trades-level income. These employers are not looking for traditional office space, nor are they looking for large industrial (warehouse) properties. They desire good quality, smaller bay industrial type buildings with flexible office designs. Often their highest employee densities are associated with the shop space as opposed to the front office. My firm belief is there is a flexible way for the City to encourage development that will support a strong employment base. This is not through mandating set percentages of office space or a fixed number of parking spaces per square foot. There is no magic wand where labeling a space as `office' means more people are employed at a property. By mandating a certain level of office build-out the City will inadvertently discourage development of space the City needs in order to create and support a CUSHMAN& WAKEFIELD 999 West Main Street,Suite 1300 USHMIIIII I I, WAKE FBI E L D Boise, ID 837 Tel +1 208 287 9500 Fax +1 208 287 9501 cushmanwakefield.com strong,varied, and dynamic employment base. The development, real estate, and user communities understand the economics behind excessive office requirements—it is expensive and not beneficial to the end user. If the end user does not need the space, they will not pay the excess rent. If the tenant will not pay the excess rent required for space with suboptimal utility the developer does not build the project. The path to increased employment base is not through increased development cost. In summary, Staff should focus on creating flexible zoning codes that do not dictate the exact composition of a project. Code should focus on supporting uses that benefit the community in a balanced sense**employment**. Top-down zoning code does not allow the private development market to react to a changing workplace. Another matter I would like to address is reliance on Conditional Use Permits. The market appreciates the flexibility offered by Conditional Use Permits. However, they are generally difficult and timely to navigate. Many of the users I have outlined above are smaller companies where the principals are focused on the operation of the business not its real estate. These users often don't consider real estate relocation and expansion until the need is critical. They often do not consider changes months or years in advance. If the City were to rely strictly on CUPS to help alleviate burdensome code, the effect will be to unfairly burden smaller users- local tenants and companies. My concern is that developers, and therefore tenants (employers),will shift to other municipalities where development is feasible and minor use variations are more readily allowed. Thank you for your consideration on this matter. I am happy to discuss in more detail if needed. Best! Tyler Martin, MAI CUSHMAN& 2 WAKEFIELD