Little Waves Coffee Roasters

Challenge

Little Waves Coffee Roasters, a locally owned small business, was roasting coffee beans in one of its retail locations where space was extremely limited. Sales were up significantly, but the company simply did not have enough physical space for its roasting operations to grow. As it had been a tenant in all three of its retail locations, and with business very strong, the owners wanted the opportunity to purchase, and not lease, a location to expand roasting and packaging. However, the availability of small industrial buildings was limited – in fact, not a single suitable property was on the market at the time of the requirement. Additionally, interest rates had climbed rapidly and lenders were pulling back on commercial real estate loans significantly.

Action

Little Waves hired Carey Greene at SVN | Real Estate Associates, who was recommended by their architect for his industrial market expertise, to help identify potential opportunities is this highly competitive and tight market. The proprietors also requested a referral for a lender, preferably a smaller bank that knew their small business.

Result

• Carey was able to quickly bring to his client’s attention an off-market, small industrial opportunity that would soon be listed by one of his SVN colleagues. The property closely matched the company’s size, location and use requirements.

• Little Waves, through Carey’s knowledge of this impending listing, was able to secure a contract prior to the property going to market, thus mitigating the competitive risk.

• The deal was quickly closed, financed using an SBA loan through a local bank that Carey recommended as one that was getting deals done and would not overlook a small business.

Testimonial

Without Carey’s knowledge of the industrial landscape in Durham and his ability to identify an off-market deal, I am certain we would not have had this opportunity to purchase this property and grow our business. We had never purchased a commercial property before, and Carey was able to effectively communicate the process and help us move from negotiations to contract and on to closing. It was critical to our business to find a suitable space and we could not be happier with the service we received and the outcome!

-- Leon Barrera Grodsky & Areli Grodsky Barrera (Owners, Little Waves Coffee Roasters)