🔒Office-to-manufacturing space conversions less common, but possible

Tater Baseball’s new manufacturing space in Cheshire is an office-to-industrial property conversion that works, commercial real estate experts said.

But it may not serve as a broader industry trend, even though industrial space remains in high demand, while office space struggles to fill vacancies brought on by the wider adoption of hybrid and remote work.

The biggest issue is ceiling heights, said Nick Morizio, Hartford president of property broker Colliers International.

A typical office building has 9-foot high ceilings, he said.

“Most manufacturers typically need something that’s 18- to 20-foot clearance,” which is not often found in office buildings unless a floor is removed to open into another floor, Morizio said.

For landlords or developers, office space is more likely to be converted to apartments or retail, or “whatever they could change it to so that it becomes useful again versus just knocking it down.”

Morizio said he typically sees self-storage facilities converted into small industrial sites. But several developers are meeting the growing demand for small industrial spaces by building new.

For example, a Longmeadow, Mass., developer is planning to build a 19,800-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building with individual spaces for 11 contractor workshops on Moody Road in Enfield. It will be leased by companies doing light manufacturing and assembly work, according to plans.

In Suffield, local electrical company owner Kevin Deming is looking to build a multi-tenant industrial contractor facility on his East Street South property, with a 12-bay storage facility available for rent by trade workers.

An investment group is planning a multi-tenant flex space development in South Windsor, with 26 individual spaces for contractors.

“On the industrial side, there’s no question there’s a shortage, and tenants have to get imaginative,” said Mark Duclos, owner of Hartford-based commercial property brokerage firm Sentry Commercial.

He said he’s seeing some flex space shifting away from office and back into industrial use, typically providing around 5,000 to 15,000 square feet for tenants.

But even flex space is in high demand, with vacancy rates in Greater Hartford around 10% to 15%, Duclos said.

“We are seeing instances where flex buildings are now being stripped back to industrial buildings. They were built to do that,” he said.