Hint: it might not be where you think!

When you think about where to house your business, you think of the famous realtor’s mantra: Location, location, location.

Location can make or break a business. It determines how easy it is for clients to get to you, how much you spend on rent, and how close you are to essential amenities.

Many business owners think that the only way to get a good location is to rent space downtown. After all, that’s where the people are right?

But some businesses actually do better outside the hustle and bustle (and expense) of the downtown highrise.

Here are three points to consider before you take out a second mortgage on your house to pay rent in a fancy office building in the heart of the downtown chaos.

Transportation and Parking

The point of locating your office downtown is to be in the heart of it all. That sounds great in theory. If your business relies on foot traffic and walk-ins, it probably will be great.

But think about the last time you drove downtown. How bad was the traffic? How hard (and expensive) was it to find parking?

If you have clients making appointments to meet with you, do you want them to have to fight rush hour traffic (which starts at about 1:30 p.m. in Hampton Roads and goes until about 9 a.m. the next morning) and then pay for parking just to come see you?

Or would you rather be just off the highway with plenty of free parking?

If the second option sounded good to you, you might want to look for an office building outside of downtown.

The atmosphere

Downtown is a happening place. In fact, pretty much everything happens there, from concerts to protests to festivals and street fairs.

It’s fun, it’s vibrant, it’s unpredictable.

Sometimes you can pop out before your conference call to buy a hot dog from a street vendor. Sometimes your street gets closed for a parade on the day you have an important meeting. Sometimes all the noise and the hurry doesn’t seem to help.

When you rent downtown, you never know what’s going to happen. All you can do is keep an eye on the events calendar and hope you can schedule around the more rowdy happenings.

Cost of Rent

Downtown space is at a premium, and that means you’ll pay premium prices.

Depending on the size of your space and your proximity to the shopping district, downtown rents can be much higher than pretty much anywhere else in the city. Dollar for dollar, you can get a lot more space if you look somewhere else.

If your business needs to be seen as a hip and trendy high-dollar retail space, then downtown is probably the place for you. But if you don’t do much (or any foot traffic) the downtown rents might not be worth it.

The uptown solution

If you’d rather locate your business in a quiet, well-maintained office building with plenty of parking and easy access to the highway, consider the affordable office suites at College Park Executive Suites in Virginia Beach.

It’s the hidden gem in the heart of Hampton Roads. 

Contact Jackie today and she’ll have you ready to work tomorrow.