Many in real estate like to fall back on the idea that the best decisions are based on location, location, location. I’ll grant that once you know generally where to be that it comes down to location (and cost). But the decision tree to get to the general where to be is full of complex and difficult problems that usually have little to do with location.
In fact, the worst real estate decisions I have ever encountered always began with a decision around simply “optimizing location.” When you start with location, you also have a high likelihood of starting with false assumptions. Is the labor market really ideal in that metro? Is the long-term growth of your business causing a geographic shift? Should you have one distribution center or two or three? Do you need a new location at all?
Location, location, location is not the way to think about real estate.