For business real estate profits, mini-warehouses rate high

What is the most profitable commercial real estate venture today - strip shopping malls, high-rise condos, downtown office towers? A real sleeper is the mini-warehouse. According to Watson & Taylor Company, Dallas, which operates 10, 000 mini-warehouse units in nine different cities, developments of this kind, if properly structured, can break even at 22 percent occupancy.

The growth of mini-warehouses hinges partly on the scaled-down size of new homes and apartments, which have little room for storage. Business, too, uses mini-warehouse facilities for old records, files, excess furniture. Mini-warehouse space rents for $3 to $4 a square foot - substantially less than office-building storage rates.