Measuring investment potential of Dutch industrial area redevelopment projects

Industrial areas in the Netherlands are important for a sustainable economic growth. However, the market for industrial areas faces several problems, of which the obsolescence of largely 30% of the current stock of industrial areas is one. The problem treated in this article is the occurring stagnation in redeveloping obsolete industrial areas in the Netherlands. This stagnation is caused by several factors. One of these factors is the lack of involvement of private investors in the market, which results in a problematic financing of redevelopment projects. Reason for the low involvement of private investors is that current redevelopment projects do not completely fit the requirements of investors. Therefore, the aim of this article is to gain a better and more systematically insight in investors’ preferences when considering to accept or to reject a redevelopment investment. To gain this insight, we used the stated choice method, measuring the effects of 15 area characteristics classified in three levels – the property itself, its direct surroundings and its location in the region – on the investor’s decision to contribute. A data collection with 24 Dutch investment experts resulted in a model that predicts the investment potential of industrial area redevelopment projects. The model can help to find the situations which have priority and the best prospects. Thus, redevelopment could be done in such a way that the area with the most potential be developed first in order to create a successful chain of events.