Find the LTL Service Center Size Your Site Can Hold
Start from a local LTL service center with cross-dock terminals in a mix of sizes, a trailer yard and a perimeter truck loop, fitted to your parcel. You see building area, dock doors and trailer stalls before you sign.
Will an LTL Service Center Fit My Site?
TestFit is real estate feasibility software that generates site plans on your parcel and calculates what they yield. For an LTL service center, the answer comes down to three things that are hard to judge from a parcel map.
Doors on a small footprint
A service center is small, but it depends on dock doors on both sides. Building length on the parcel decides how many doors the terminal can offer.
Yard for the local fleet
Pickup and delivery trucks, tractors and trailers all need somewhere to park between runs. On a smaller parcel, the yard is usually what runs out first.
Loop on a smaller lot
A perimeter truck loop takes the same width on a small site as on a large one, so it claims a bigger share of the land around a service center.
From Your Parcel to a Deal You Can Underwrite
Start from the LTL service center your team would build, tune it to your standards, and finish with one model for the site, plan, tabulation and pro forma.
Your parcel and its constraints
- Site boundary: pick the parcel from built-in parcel data with current owner info, draw it, enter metes and bounds, or import a KML/KMZ file
- Setbacks and frontage: front, side and rear setbacks set to the parcel edges
- Zoning: FAR, building and impervious coverage, height limits and parking ratios, pulled in for your parcel so you don't have to dig through the zoning code
- Easements: areas the layout keeps buildings out of
- Site conditions: flood zones, wetlands and topography from Site Intelligence
Every layout starts inside your site's real constraints.
Your product, fine-tuned on the site
- Product: 1-story LTL cross-dock terminals, 18 ft clear, 5 sizes from 27k to 51k sf
- Site layout: dock doors on both sides, trailer and tractor yard, perimeter truck loop
- Your edits: building sizes, docks, trailer yard, parking and circulation
You see the building your team would propose, on your parcel.
A source of truth for the deal
- Site plan geometry: buildings, courts, parking and drives drawn to the parcel
- Tabulation for this product: building sf, dock doors, trailer and car stalls against what's required, site coverage and FAR
- Earthwork: cut and fill for the layout
- Financials: the geometry turned into development costs, revenue and returns
- Shareable results: a link or PDF report for your team, partners and other stakeholders
You know whether the deal works, with numbers to back it.
TestFit is transformational. We've shaved days off of our analysis by using the AI capabilities of this software, which allows us to make smarter decisions faster.
LTL Service Center Site Planning FAQ
What is an LTL service center?
A local less-than-truckload terminal where a carrier sorts freight for pickup and delivery in the surrounding area. It is a small cross-dock with doors on both sides and a yard for trucks and trailers.
What is the difference between an LTL service center and a regional hub?
A service center handles local pickup and delivery from a smaller terminal. A regional hub transfers freight between regions, so its building and trailer yard are much larger.
How much land does an LTL service center need?
Less than a hub, but the yard still drives it. The parcel has to fit the terminal, truck and trailer parking on both sides and a loop around it. Load your parcel in TestFit with this layout to see which size fits.
Why does this layout use five building sizes?
It tests service centers in five sizes from 27k to 51k sf, so you can compare which terminal the parcel supports with its trailer yard and truck loop in place.
Can I change the layout after it generates?
Yes. Start from this layout, then edit the terminal, docks, trailer yard, parking and circulation in TestFit. The site plan and yield recalculate as you go.
Find it in TestFit
Test This Layout on Your Next Industrial Site
Load your parcel and get the site plan, yield, and costs in one place.