Island Visit In May

Posted by: Mssiegert

We are the ones with the upholstery shop and are doing a pre visit in May.  Our ideal is to live in the building we are working in and to be close to the water so we can also work on boats.  We would be fine with a loft type area in the industrial part of a town.  Any ideas on our concept?

Nothing is cheap on St. Thomas, especially near the water.

i dont think there is an industrial type area downtown 

Are you talking about St. Thomas? There are places around the lagoon that might work. Several hurricane damaged buildings- sailmakers, marine electronics, etc. are there. You could also check the Haulover area near Crown Bay. That is where boat fixin' goes on.

There are sail makers and custom canvas shops on STT.

Check around Compass Point to see if anything in area may fit. 

Also around boatyard location in Benner Bay.

Not sure about work/live scenario but good to do a premove visit to get the lay of land and competition.

Thank you for listing some areas to look at.  We have a map of the island and will concentrate on the locations you gave us..

Thank you for listing some areas to look at.  We have a map of the island and will concentrate on the locations you gave us..

We looked up the areas you suggested.  Although we do not make sails being in an area that works on boats would be handy.  The furniture side of our upholstery shop is what we feel would be used the most especially if that service isn't being offered currently on St Thomas.

You might want to look at the warehouse type spaces in Bovoni and behind the RLS Hospital. Not in the live/work option however.

There are some good size spaces along the airport road / Harwood Hgwy - that may offer some loft type conversion for live/work.

Sub Base has a good collection of service businesses that could compliment your operation, woodworking, welding, electrical, boat yard, flooring, moving and storage, etc. Some buildings are  Govt.P&P leases some are not. [Property and Procurement]

Finding a home that would be suitable for a business activity is also possible - keeping the traffic down, the noise not a problem, and if it is just your small pickup doing the in and out deliveries it could work, home based business is not actively discouraged if it doesn't impact the neighbors.

An upholstery shop will certainly do just fine IF you offer great service and workmanship - you will have to decide how big a volume you want to do and pick a space accordingly.

I am not a real estate agent in any way!!

Thank you for your insight.

Hi! We will be moving to STT or STX in the fall and am wondering if you were able to find a live/work space while you were there? If so, what was the average cost of those spaces?

That is what we are looking for also☺. We are having our pre-visit the end of July to look at available space.