Co-warehousing concept aimed at small businesses that need room to grow

Co-working offices are nothing new.

But co-working warehouses? Yes, it’s a thing.

And one of the new industrial offerings is opening its doors in North Texas.

A start-up Atlanta-based company called Saltbox is launching its co-warehousing concept to the Dallas area with a location in Farmers Branch.

The two-year-old shared warehouse company has converted a 66,000 squarefoot industrial building just east of Stemmons Freeway.

“Dallas is our second and we will end this year with eight locations open,” said Tyler Scriven, Saltbox co-founder who’s spreading the venture to new markets.

Other facilities are in the works for Denver, Seattle and Los Angeles.

The innovative industrial hubs are aimed at small business, entrepreneurs and growing companies that need flexible warehouse, shipping or assembly space.

The concept is also geared for small e-commerce start ups that are outgrowing their owner’s spare room or garage.

“At Saltbox, companies rely upon this space as the foundational input to their business opportunity,” Scriven said. “They are storing their inventory at Saltbox. They are utilizing our space.

“The e-commerce merchant is the one we are most deeply focused on serving,” he said. “You can sign a month to month membership at Saltbox or a longer term membership.”

Scriven said Saltbox’s facility can take the place of self-storage units or rough workspaces some small businesses are forced to rely on. It can be used as a temporary or permanent space.

“We have a solution we call flexible storage putting a section of every Saltbox that is dedicated to flexible space,” he said. “On site, on demand warehouse workers are available to support clients at any time.

“Saltbox can literally run their business for them,” Scriven said. “A single monthly bill gets you your workspace, your office and conference facilities.”

The co-warehousing centers also have kitchens and even photo studio areas.

The starting price for warehouse space is $660 a month and the starting price for office space is $550.

Saltbox opened its first location in late 2019 on Atlanta’s Upper Westside.

The company raised more than $3 million in initial venture funding to build the first 27,000 square foot location. The Atlanta locations was aimed at including importers and exporters, distributors, makers and e-commerce operators, which Saltbox said, were underserved in the warehousing market.

Dallas-fort Worth is the country’s fastest growing industrial market with more than 26 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space under construction.

But most of those buildings are aimed at big international or regional firms.

“If you have searched for a less than 10,000 warehouse lately, good luck,” Scriven said. “This is effectively a missing sub asset class of the real estate market.

“I hope Saltbox can be transformative for some of the companies that have a home here.”

Rather than lease the warehouse space for its centers, Saltbox teams up with building owners on the projects.

“Instead of signing master leases and funding the capital improvements to these buildings, we partner with institutional real estate firms that buy the assets and Saltbox engages with a management agreement.”