Mayor Eddie Sundquist told The Post-Journal he has had conversations with other cities regarding the success of speculative buildings and the potential for Jamestown to construct a “Spec Building” site. Pictured is Mayor Eddie Sundquist. P-J file photo

Mayor Eddie Sundquist is considering the potential benefits of speculative buildings in Jamestown that could provide spaces for a variety of businesses to quickly launch in the community.

Sundquist told The Post-Journal that he has been looking at possible locations for the construction of a potential “Spec Building” site in Jamestown.

“Developers will often create these things called speculative buildings,” he said. “They’re basically building shells that are created in order to attract businesses so that if you are business that is really getting up and running, that you don’t have to do a complete rehab of a building or a new build.”

Sundquist said developers will build speculative buildings that have “pretty much everything you need” as a business looking for a building to operate out of. By design, Sundquist said speculative buildings are a “shell” consisting of everything a business needs to be able to move into the building and quickly start operating.

“We’ve really been looking at some of the empty lots and spaces we have to create a spec manufacturing building,” he said. “It could be distribution, manufacturing, you name it. It could be a number of things.”

Sundquist said he has had the opportunity to talk to people in Erie and Buffalo regarding the success of speculative buildings. Based on his conversations, Sundquist said that both cities have found that when speculative buildings are constructed, businesses have a tendency to “very quickly” move in and launch operations.

While Sundquist acknowledged the difficulty of having “shovel ready” sites in Jamestown due to the amount of “remediation” that is typically required with construction projects in the city, he emphasized the potential benefit of having developers handle the construction of buildings that would be perfect for businesses to utilize and would contribute to the Jamestown community.

“We’ve seen a lot of success in surrounding cities around us in the development of these types of buildings, so we’re really looking at that as a potential new phase of development here for the city as well,” he said.