After more than a year of searching, we’ve finally found a great building, large enough to accommodate our entire operation under one roof. At nearly 14,000 sqft, it is the space we’ve dreamed of for more than 10 years. The space is perfect EXCEPT it’s next to the transitional housing facility, city sanctioned tent city, the soup kitchen, and the food bank. We’re an auction house and our customers would come to the facility to drop of their consignment items and to pick up their winning bids.
I’ve thought about electronic access with fencing to the street with gates, but will that be enough to deter them? Am I making a horrible decision with my life savings?
You seem to be trying to justify it - putting up trail cams - despite all of those who have experience and say don’t do it. So I’ll add mine to the list. My office is in an area of Phoenix where homelessness has been going up, luckily our customers don’t come to the office, they’re in other parts of the country.
However the women on my team have been harassed by homeless guys numerous time - flashing them, asking for sex, asking for $, walking around naked, crapping on the sidewalk. I’ve had to call 911 several times due to people having medical emergencies in the parking lot or having mental breakdowns and screaming at people.
It is 6:15 PM right now and I’m leaving my office, do you know why? Because it’s getting dark and even as a guy its not safe. As a business owner it sucks having to worry about the safety of your team, and having team say they’re nervous to come to work. My lease is up, so we’re moving. IMO your absolutely call crazy if you’re going to consider putting a business in an area like what you described. Do you really want to have an office where you have to pay for security? It’s already hard to find good team members, you’ll make it a lot harder if they’re in an area that they don’t feel safe, same for customers. I think it would be a horrible decision to invest significant money in such a location.