7 Ways To Spice Up Your Commercial Property

Discover 7 creative ways to spice up your commercial property, enhancing its appeal and boosting business success.

While there is a good chance you will benefit from capital gains, commercial properties such as shops and office space can be expensive to maintain if they are not tenanted. 

Therefore, as a landlord, it is within your interests to ensure you attract tenants who run successful and sustainable ventures that will lease from you for many years to come. 

However, in today's competitive business landscape, this is easier said than done. Not least because commercial tenants tend to have much different needs than those of residential tenants. 

So, how can you go about attracting the right companies? One way is by spicing up your commercial property. 

Here are seven savvy ways you can do that. 

1. Give the outside a makeover 

One of the easiest ways to spice up your commercial property is to give it a makeover. 

A simple wash and lick of paint on the exterior walls can do wonders for its curb appeal, while a bit of landscaping, in the form of flowers and low-maintenance plants, can significantly enhance its appearance as well. 

At the end of the day, first impressions count. So, the more desirable the exterior of your commercial property looks, the more likely it will attract tenants and buyers. 

2. Spruce up the inside too 

It is not just the outside that you should makeover. The inside could do with a spruce up too, especially if it has a clinical, ‘white walls’ feel to it. 

Adding artwork, a bit of greenery and mood lighting to the lobby area, or each floor, can all make a difference to how prospective tenants view your property by balancing functionality with aesthetics. 

You could also add seating areas, install a sound system that plays soft music on each level or put in a feature such as a fountain or statue by the entrance, that would give your place more personality and vibrancy. 

Some landlords might see this as an unnecessary cost. However, if you consider how much effort people make trying to sell their own homes, it makes sense that same effort should be replicated when looking to rent out your commercial property. 

3. Add a USP 

Every commercial property should have a unique selling point, which makes it easier to rent out. 

For some places it might be proximity to a train station or a location within a main shopping centre. But for others it could be something a bit more outside of the box. 

You could for instance add in a shared space such as a cafeteria in the lobby (which you could rent out). 

Alternatively, if you have a decent enough green space, you could allow a bowls club to build a lawn bowl roof as an incentive to move to your property. 

4. Provide Parking 

When evaluating whether to lease out a commercial property, one of the major things prospective tenants consider is how much parking there is available. This applies not just to them, but also to their customers. 

For this reason, if your property does not have ample parking around it, you might want to add a specific zone for doing so. 

This is important to tenants as they will be able to safely park there all day without having to worry about moving their car every 2 to 4 hours. If this parking area can also accommodate customers, then all the better. 

5. Divide up the space 

If you have a large sized commercial property that you are struggling to rent out, it is a good idea to divide it up into multiple spaces. 

It is worth checking first with your local council to see what regulations, if any, apply. However, as certain size spaces will only attract specific types of businesses, you are limiting your potential tenant base if you stick it to its original floor plan. 

6. Allow Pop-Ups 

If your commercial property is lying dormant, and you still have to pay a mortgage on it yourself, you should consider allowing pop-up stores to rent it out on a short-term basis. 

This short-term basis could be week-to-week or month-to-month in nature and is a good way to generate revenue from that asset. 

In some cases, the vendor or small business might find they are actually trading successfully at your location. Which, in turn, might even result in them becoming bona fide tenants of yours! 

7. Invest in Smart and Environmentally Friendly Technology 

In recent years there has been a rise in the number of businesses, especially those run by tech-savvy millennials, who want to lease spaces that have been set up with smart technology. For this reason, you might want to upgrade your commercial property accordingly.

Smart technology includes smart lighting, building access and security and 5G connectivity, which are designed to create a working environment that offers tenants peace of mind and the opportunity to be more productive. 

When upgrading your facilities, adding energy efficient measures such as solar power, ducted air-conditioning and smart water management systems that will reduce running costs are an attractive proposition to potential tenants too.

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