No leases or purchase agreements have been signed on spaces featured in Ferndale's Commercial Property Showcase last weekend... yet.
But that's not dampening the enthusiasm of the inner-ring suburb's leaders. They're excited about the attention and interest from potential new businesses the event generated.
"It got people thinking about and looking at Ferndale," says Maile Ilac Boeder, executive director of the Ferndale Chamber, which sponsored the event. "I think they already were, but not from a business standpoint."
The self-guided tour featured 20 to 25 available commercial properties and existing businesses. The idea, modelled after home tours, was to show prospective business owners what space is available and what it can become. The featured properties include retail, office, industrial, mixed-use and brownfield redevelopment spaces.
The event attracted between 50 and 100 interested parties that ranged from small businesses to other local municipalities taking notes. Among the potential business owners were a couple looking for a few thousand square feet for an art gallery to a pair of Chicago businessmen looking at potential retail locations.
"That's very good because it's better to have five or six people with pointed interest tour a property than 100 people just wandering through who are nosey," Boeder says.
She adds that it also gave business owners a comprehensive view of Ferndale because it showcased a spectrum of properties, ranging from downtown storefronts to industrial spaces. The main thing interested parties took away from the tour was how the city, chamber and local business community were all on the same page.
"This is by far the most collaborative effort we have done in a long time," Boeder says. "There was literally no standing room in my office. I had the city manager vacuuming it by the end of the day."
The showcase was the first phase in what Boeder and other city officials plan to be an on-going strategy to secure leases and purchase agreements in Ferndale -- a typically lengthy process when choosing a business site.
The chamber has received a lot of interest from business owners and real-estate agents about doing the event again, which it plans to turn into an annual event. For information on next year's tour, call (248) 542-2160.
Source: Maile Ilac Boeder, executive director of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce
Writer: Jon Zemke
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