During COVID, office buildings emptied out. Retail got crushed. Even some apartment markets softened. You know what didn’t miss a beat? Small-bay flex parks. My flex tenants kept paying rent, kept showing up, and kept needing their space. Not a single one asked for a rent deferral.
That wasn’t a fluke. It’s structural.
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Document occupancy history: Track your flex building‘s occupancy over the past 10 years including economic downturns. This shows buyers structural resilience. -
Calculate rent growth trend: Show the annual rent increases you’ve achieved. Flex buildings typically see 4-8% annual increases in Carolina markets. -
Highlight tenant diversity: Document what your tenants do (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, construction, etc.). Service diversity reduces risk of any single industry affecting the building. -
Compare to other asset types: Gather vacancy and rent growth data on office, retail, and other flex properties in your market. Position your flex as the defensive choice.
You can’t work from home with a box truck
The tenants in flex parks are service businesses. They fix things, build things, deliver things. Their work requires physical tools, materials, and vehicles. There’s no remote option. A plumber can’t snake a drain from his living room. An HVAC tech can’t install a condenser from a coffee shop.
The Hard Truth About Flex Market Resilience
During COVID, office buildings emptied. Retail got crushed. Apartment markets softened. Flex park occupancy? Never wavered. Not because the market was lucky but because tenants in flex parks (service contractors) provide essential services that can’t be delayed or performed remotely. A homeowner can’t delay fixing a broken AC or sewer line just because there’s a pandemic. This structural demand is why flex buildings hold their value and rents even when other commercial assets struggle. That’s also why builders don’t develop new small-bay flex — they know demand exceeds supply by a wide margin.
This makes flex tenants fundamentally different from office tenants who can (and did) go remote. The physical space isn’t optional for these businesses. It’s essential infrastructure.
Small businesses are resilient
The service contractors who fill flex parks tend to be lean operations. Low overhead, essential services, local customer base. When the economy dips, people still need their AC fixed and their toilets to work. These aren’t luxury services. They’re necessities.
I’ve held flex in Greensboro and the Charlotte area through every market cycle since I started buying. Occupancy has never dipped below 90%. In good times it’s 98-100%. The worst year was still better than a good year for most asset types.
Related: Vacant vs. Leased: How It Changes the Deal When You Sell
The supply side
Nobody’s building small-bay flex at scale. The economics don’t work for large developers. So the supply is essentially fixed while demand keeps growing with population. More people moving to the Carolinas means more homes being built, which means more contractors needing shop space.
This supply-demand imbalance is why rents keep climbing. And it’s why flex buildings hold their value even when the broader commercial real estate market wobbles.
For sellers
If you own a small-bay flex park in Columbia or anywhere in the Carolinas, you’ve got one of the most resilient assets in commercial real estate. Buyers know this. Cap rates reflect it. Now is a great time to find out what yours is worth.
Seller takeaway
If you own a small-bay flex park in Greensboro, Columbia, or anywhere in the Carolinas, you own one of the most resilient assets available. Call Jim at 704-600-3839 to discuss what your building’s occupancy history and structural demand mean for your sale value.
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