News

Jul 03, 2023

Good Greek Moving & Storage seeks Orlando office, warehouse space

A West Palm Beach-based company with an expanding presence around the state is on the hunt for office and warehouse space in metro Orlando, while also planning to add another vertical to its portfolio

A West Palm Beach-based company with an expanding presence around the state is on the hunt for office and warehouse space in metro Orlando, while also planning to add another vertical to its portfolio of services.

Spero Georgedakis, CEO and founder of Good Greek Moving & Storage, told Orlando Business Journal his company — which recently announced its market expansion into Central Florida — intends to secure office space in the region within the next 30 days and wants to either buy or lease at least 30,000 square feet of warehouse-stye industrial space within the next six to 12 months.

In addition to those real estate moves, Georgedakis told OBJ his portfolio of companies — which already includes moving, storage, real estate brokerage, insurance and lending services — soon will add self-storage to its repertoire.

"The last piece of this is self-storage," Georgedakis said, suggesting that his other successful businesses will form a "feeder system" of sorts for his entry into the sector. "We want to incentivize people to use as many of our services as we can — the idea is I’m creating customers for life."

He added that he is looking either to buy land to develop self-storage facilities on or to buy existing facilities, noting the strong demand for such properties currently.

That demand was on display recently when Orlando-based Simply Self Storage was sold for $2.2 billion to Glendale, California-based Public Storage, as well as when a west Orange County self-storage facility sold for $23.1 million.

"New groups are coming into the [self-storage] space and new funds are coming into the space, so we're not expecting to see any huge slowdown on our side — we actually think it's only going to pick up as we go later into this year," said CBRE Senior Vice President Morgan Windbiel, who represented the seller in the west Orange County transaction.

Meanwhile, Georgedakis previously told Tampa Bay Business Journal his company plans to hire 25 workers in Orlando right now, with the potential to hire more than 100 additional employees over the next two years. Those hirings eventually may include sales people and brokers related to its mortage, insurance and real estate offerings.

As for needs related to the warehouse space it will seek, he told OBJ buildings with a clearance height of 32 feet and drive-in doors for trucks are preferred, as is highway visibility. He added that room to grow is also a top priority.

Georgedakis acknowledged the expansion push comes at a time when real estate and construction costs can be challenging, but said he remains bullish on doing business in Florida — and especially the Interstate 4 corridor.

"It's a little harder today with all the different factors out there to do business, but Florida is so robust and there's so much going on in that I-4 corridor that it's not whether things are going to get back — they are – it's just when. ... Everything is telling me ‘let's go.’ "

Good Greek — a member of the South Florida Business Journal's 2023 Fast 50 — has about 140 trucks and could grow that into the thousands through franchising. The company's franchising model differs from others, Georgedakis said, as it runs an "owner-in-training" program that lasts about three to six months.

Franchise fees are $10,000 or less, Georgedakis said, and the franchisee gets a 10% stake in the market.

Good Greek Moving & Storage also provides moving services for many Florida sports teams, including the Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Marlins and Miami Heat. Collegiate partners include the University of Florida, the University of Miami and Florida International University.

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