When trying to evaluate the value of a residential property, there are a lot of ways to do it. The easiest way to get a general idea of pricing or a relative value is to simply look at comparable properties on a website like Zillow or Redfin. Commercial real estate is a bit harder to analyze without the help of comparables and a professional appraiser like us. On 12/4, we got call from the owner of Jacksonville Pool Decks, a concrete company based in Florida. We’d like to use this company as the example for how we approach commercial real estate valuation.
Jacksonville Pool Decks is located at 50 N. Laura Street, Suite 2500, Jacksonville, FL, 32202. In addition to the office location, Jacksonville Pool Decks, owns a 1 acre plot of land on the St. John’s River, below Deer Creek. This property is commercial in nature with a 1,500 square foot warehouse, a cement mixer, vapor barriers, plate compactors, portable mixers, a screed machine, two trucks, and several other related tools. As a swimming pool deck repair company, their concrete service professionals work primarily from the customer location, pouring ready-mix on the spot. Commercial customers are a different story, often requesting precast for the building of bridges and other structures.
We began the commercial property valuation effort by researching comparable size lots within a 5 square mile radius of 50 N. Laura Street, Suite 2500, Jacksonville, FL, 32202 and found 7 businesses with recent land sales ranging from $937,000 to $1.35M. Comparable sales included land at: 1433 Talleyrand Ave, 1751 Talleyrand Ave, and 1901 Hill St. just to name a few. Jacksonville Pool Decks’ property had unique zoning characteristics, which made it attractive in addition to the warehouse structure. We value the property at $1.27M, excluding the business. If the company decides to proceed with a sale of both in tandem, I would imagine the sale would end up over the $2M mark. Whoever the broker is on this deal is going to make a sizable commission check. Unfortunately, as licensed real estate agents here, we can’t help with the sale.