Industrial site selection: a 14-point checklist for corporate operations leaders

Site selection is the highest-leverage decision in an industrial build-to-suit. Every later decision (entitlement strategy, incentive stack, GC selection, design, construction sequencing, lease terms) is constrained by what the site can support. A great team on the wrong site builds an expensive monument to a procurement mistake. A competent team on the right site delivers on time and under budget. The asymmetry is enormous. And yet site selection is the phase corporate operations leaders most often rush, because the pressure to “get the deal signed” tends to peak before the diligence is finished. This article is the working checklist we use on every corporate user engagement before we recommend a site. Skip any of these 14 questions, and the project tends to find the answer at the worst possible moment.

The 14 questions

1. Does the zoning permit your specific use, today, without a variance?

Industrial zoning categories are not interchangeable. Light industrial, heavy industrial, manufacturing, warehouse, and distribution categories vary by jurisdiction, and a “general industrial” district in one city may exclude the exact operation you need to run. A good answer confirms the specific use is permitted by right, with no variance, no special use permit, and no conditional approval required. Anything short of by-right approval adds entitlement risk, time, and a public hearing where opposition can derail the project.

2. What is the available electric service capacity at the parcel, and what is the upgrade timeline if you need more?

Power is the constraint that breaks the most industrial projects right now. Modern manufacturing, automated distribution, and any operation with significant motor load or cooling can blow past what a parcel’s existing service can deliver. A good answer confirms the available capacity in writing from the utility, identifies the substation feeding the parcel, and gives a realistic upgrade timeline. On constrained substations, an upgrade can run 18 to 36 months and dictate the construction schedule.

3. Is there sufficient water, sanitary sewer, and natural gas capacity?

Process water, sanitary discharge volume and chemistry, and gas pressure at the parcel all need to be confirmed against your operation’s actual needs, not against generic industrial averages. A good answer is a written utility capacity letter that matches your projected demand. The failure mode is finding out at permit that your discharge needs a pretreatment system the budget never included.

4. How does the site connect to the highway network, and how does freight actually move in and out?

Drive-time to the nearest interstate is the easy number. The harder questions are about truck routing through the local street network, weight restrictions, turn radii at the parcel entrance, traffic signal coordination, and any seasonal route limitations. A good answer walks the truck route from the parcel to the interstate ramp at the actual hour your trucks will be moving and identifies every choke point.

5. Is rail or intermodal access required, and is it actually available?

Most modern industrial users do not need direct rail. The ones who do need it absolutely, and the cost of retrofitting rail to a parcel that does not have it is prohibitive. A good answer either confirms an existing rail spur with the serving railroad’s written commitment to operate it, or confirms that intermodal access at a nearby terminal meets your service requirements.

6. What does the labor pool look like inside a 30-minute drive radius?

The labor radius is the operational reality of staffing the site. A good answer is a labor study showing the working-age population, current unemployment, prevailing wage for your job categories, and competing employers inside the radius. The disqualifying answer is “there’s plenty of labor around here” without the underlying numbers.

7. Is the parcel sized for the building today and the building you may want in three to five years?

Industrial users routinely outgrow the building they spec at LOI. A good answer holds room on the parcel for a 30 to 50 percent expansion of the original footprint, with parking, truck court, and stormwater all designed to absorb the larger building. The failure mode is a perfectly sized parcel that traps the operation when volume doubles.

8. What is the environmental history of the site, and has a Phase I been completed?

Every industrial parcel deserves a current Phase I Environmental Site Assessment. A Phase I that flags a recognized environmental condition triggers a Phase II, and a Phase II can either kill the deal or unlock brownfield financing depending on what it finds. A good answer is a current Phase I in hand and, where any recognized environmental condition is present, a clear path through Phase II and Michigan’s brownfield framework. For background on how the brownfield math works, see our brownfield redevelopment article.

9. What is the local jurisdiction’s incentive posture on a project of your size?

Incentive posture varies by jurisdiction even within West Michigan. Some local units have standing Industrial Development Districts and a track record of clean IFT approvals. Others require an IDD designation as a fresh political conversation. A good answer is an early read from the local economic development office on IFT, Brownfield TIF, and MEDC support tailored to your project’s specific job creation and capital investment. For the IFT mechanics in detail, see our PA 198 deep dive.

10. What surrounds the parcel, and will the neighbors stay compatible?

Neighboring uses determine the long-term operating environment. A parcel adjacent to residential, retail, or sensitive uses carries operational constraints (noise, traffic, hours, odor) that may be acceptable today and unworkable as the operation scales. A good answer confirms compatible adjacent zoning, with a buffer against future residential conversion of nearby parcels.

11. Where is the floodplain, and how does stormwater leave the site?

Floodplain location, drainage patterns, and downstream capacity all dictate building footprint and site design. A good answer is a current FEMA flood map review, a stormwater concept that meets the local jurisdiction’s standards, and confirmation that the downstream infrastructure can absorb the additional discharge. The expensive failure is discovering at site plan review that the developable area is half what you thought.

12. What does the soil bearing capacity look like, and will the foundations work?

Soil bearing capacity dictates foundation design and, on weak soils, can drive structural costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single project. A good answer is a current geotechnical report sized to the proposed building footprint, with foundation recommendations included. The failure mode is signing on a site where the geotech comes back after the LOI and the foundation cost moves the project out of pencil.

13. Is fiber and telecom service adequate for your operation?

Modern industrial operations are data-dependent. A good answer confirms redundant fiber to the parcel, latency that supports your operational needs, and an installation timeline that fits your delivery schedule. The disqualifying answer is “we’ll figure that out later,” which on rural parcels can become a six-figure trench-to-the-pole conversation.

14. What is the political risk on this project at this site?

Political risk is the question operations leaders most often dismiss. A good answer maps the council or township board composition, identifies any organized neighborhood opposition, and reads the local body’s track record on similar industrial projects in the prior 24 months. The expensive surprises are the ones a competent local team could have flagged in week one.

Closing

These 14 questions are not exhaustive, but they cover the failure modes we see most often when corporate users come to us mid-process after a site has already been chosen and the diligence has gaps. Working through the checklist in order, with written answers and source documents on every question, takes weeks of upfront effort. That effort is the cheapest part of a build-to-suit. The failures cost months at the back end.

For more on how we approach industrial build-to-suit work, see our industrial capability page. For the questions you should be asking your developer alongside the questions about the site, see our 12 questions to ask a build-to-suit developer.

If you are scoping a Michigan industrial project and want a working session on a specific site or short list, get in touch.