Want free real estate for your own business?
It's more realistic than you think.
All you have to do is write an essay and pay a $100 entry fee.
"It's no joke," said Frank Lain, a Lansing resident who is active on city boards.
Lain, paired with business owner Larry Carr, will give away 2,500 square feet of retail space in Lansing, worth about $325,000.
The essay contest has three questions: Why do you want a business? What kind of business would you create? And how many people would you employ? The deadline for submissions is in May.
The contest's goal is to make it easier for people going out on their own into the business world. On July 4, Carr plans to transfer the rights to his property at 2312 E. Michigan Ave., which now houses his business, The Dancing Crane Gallery.
"Art sales in Lansing have not been stellar, that's for sure," he said.
Carr wants to move next door, in business space he also owns, and focus on his other profession — reproducing artwork instead of selling it.
Carr will still have to pay the mortgage on the essay contest property. He declined to give specific figures, only saying it's "considerably more than $60,000." He said he wanted to give the commercial space away "free and clear" to help an entrepreneur avoid high startup costs.
In order to compensate for administrative costs and to help pay the property's mortgage, the essay contest stipulates that 4,000 people must enter and pay the $100 entry fee — totaling $400,000 — for the prize to be awarded.
If the contest needs a few hundred more people to reach the 4,000-person goal, the contest will still likely run, Carr said.
Carr and Lain will find judges to read the essays. Lain said the they will likely be someone from the Lansing business community, an employee for the city of Lansing and a business professor.
But they aren't worried about falling short on contest applicants.
"It doesn't look like it's going to be a problem," Lain said.
Since the contest's announcement Monday morning, more than 1,200 people have visited its Web site.
"And we've been up less than two days," Lain said on Wednesday, adding that the goal was helping out a future business owner who might not capital to take out a mortgage and pay for startup costs.
Paying to use a facility is a major part of the startup costs for business owners, said Mike Lobbestael, an instructor in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management.
The lease is $2,200 a month at The Dancing Crane Gallery. Downtown East Lansing entrepreneurs say startup costs begin in the mid-$100,000 range and up to $200,000.
"There certainly would be an advantage to have free space," Lobbestael said.
