LMG Space

[Silver_01]

Do yall ever think that LMG will ever grow out of their current space (The warehouse). 

[Spotty]

They've got a pretty big space at the moment after adding another unit for the workshop and converting the old storage unit to the gaming lounge which doubles as both a staff area and possible filming set.

They have been growing lately hiring new staff, adding new channels with TechLinked and Short Circuit, the Carpool Critics podcast, and bringing back Channel Super Fun. I think the space they have now is right for their needs, but it's not unthinkable that they might need to expand at some point in the future, especially if they keep growing further like they have been.

 

Floatplane was looking for their own office as well I'm not sure if they're still operating out of the LMG building or if they've found their own place, so you could possibly count that as well even though it's technically not LMG.

[greenmax]

11 hours ago, Silver_01 said:

Do yall ever think that LMG will ever grow out of their current space (The warehouse). 

They have storage space, but nothing else was mentioned. Rental storage is pretty cheap, but I can imagine they got quite the $ in the content of said storage space.

 

I wonder what the square footage of their warehouse is, to get an idea of the commercial condo sale price and condo fee which would have been purchased in what year?

[JoshHendi]

It would be impressive if they grew out of the space just as fast as they seemingly moved into it... Pretty crazy how you can evolve a successful Youtube channel

[Godlygamer23]

40 minutes ago, JoshHendi said:

It would be impressive if they grew out of the space just as fast as they seemingly moved into it... Pretty crazy how you can evolve a successful Youtube channel

Crazy how LTT/LMG has evolved over the years. 

[greenmax]

The commercial condo's are not cheap.

[LinusTech]

We have 10,000 sqft of plate, and after the current upgrades we'll have about 14-15,000sq ft of usable floor space including all the mezzanine etc.

 

If LMG continues to grow, we will move fp into its own dedicated space, but as things stand we are good even now while construction is ongoing and when our current renovations add another 3000sq feet (2000 office, 1000 storage) we will be in good shape for some time.

 

Parking is a concern, but the business realities of relocation have basically made it impossible for us to move. We own this building so I've been very comfortable investing heavily in tenant improvements (well over a million dollars in construction alone) to improve our productivity and comfort. 

 

If we had to move, we would either have to sink an inordinate amount of cashflow into a down payment, or we would be stuck leasing from another landlord and paying to upgrade someone else's building. It would cost us AT LEAST $1-1.5M to get a similar sized space up to the current standard... and then assuming we moved to be somewhere BIGGER, it would cost even more than that.. The worst thing about leasing is that you're at the mercy of your landlord for how much you're paying per square foot. As I just outlined, moving is REALLY expensive for certain types of businesses (like ours) so landlords can easily hold you hostage with big rent increases when the time comes for renegotiation.

 

Making matters worse, commercial real estate has absolutely sky-rocketed here over the last 5 years. Since we moved into these units, their value has doubled, and while on the surface that might sounds awesome, it hasn't been all good for us. We've bought 2 more units at much higher prices than we originally paid - once to keep out a noisy neighbor on the other side of a sheetrock wall, and the second time to build the new workshop that we've been using for some really cool content.

 

This also means that upgrading from our current space into something like a 20,000 sq foot freehold warehouse would be a 6-7 million dollar endeavor *IF* we could find something, which we probably couldn't. The foreign buyer restrictions that have eased some of the pricing pressure on RESIDENTIAL real estate in this market have not been applied to commercial real estate, so that's where all the money has been going and it's been ridiculous how quickly overpriced commercial/industrial space has been hoovered up.

 

So that's the long version. In short, we're not moving. We're just gonna find better ways to use our current space.

 

 

[kelvinhall05]

Just now, LinusTech said:

We're just gonna find better ways to use our current space.

Except unlike me you guys are actually gonna organize stuff and not just shove stuff harder into desk drawers...right?

[teh]

Love hearing about the business side of things Linus (one of the things that makes WAN show enjoyable for me). 

 

Waiting on that autobiography!

[Kilrah]

Wow crazy, didn't know you owned the space but it of course makes sense.

[LinusTech]

Just now, Kilrah said:

Wow crazy, didn't know you owned the space but it of course makes sense.

Taking on that kind of debt at that time was a big stretch for us even at half of current market rates for only 60% of the floor plate we now own, but I saw the future of LMG as one that would pay it back many times if we played our cards right.

 

Funnily enough, it was actually that big investment that forced my hand on signing on with Vessel. There was a lot of uncertainty at the time around how YouTube was going to allow creators to integrate sponsorship and Vessel came along with a big signing bonus at just the right time that allowed us to complete construction of the office space inside the empty warehouse.

[Kilrah]

38 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

but I saw the future of LMG as one that would pay it back many times if we played our cards right.

And I imagine it sure did, wise move, just didn't imagine you'd have been able to make it work at that time.

 

38 minutes ago, LinusTech said:

Vessel came along with a big signing bonus at just the right time that allowed us to complete construction of the office space inside the empty warehouse.

Nice, everyone needs a bit of luck - they didn't have as much of it, but wise move again.

 

I'll need to go back and watch videos from that era, that was before I found your channels.

 

Anyway thanks for the content, and the WAN show chit chat mentioning the background and thoughts on random stuff is probably the most valuable in my eyes.

 

...and as an admirer of all things LTT for a few years I was pretty proud to unexpectedly see one of the projects I work on and some footage I shot shown in last Thursday's TL 

[Pickles von Brine]

Wow, learned some really intesesting stuff. Thanks for being so open Linus.