See If a Side-Load Park Works on Your Deep or Irregular Parcel
Start from a side-load distribution park with a mix of building sizes fitted to your parcel, docks on one long side facing a shared internal truck court. You see the building area and dock count before it goes to committee.
Will a Side-Load Distribution Park Fit My Site?
TestFit is real estate feasibility software that generates site plans on your parcel and calculates what they yield. For a side-load park, the answer comes down to three things that are hard to judge from a parcel map.
Docks face a shared court
Each building puts its docks on one long side, facing a truck court shared with its neighbor. Building orientation decides whether that court lands where trucks can reach it.
Dock count follows the court
Dock doors line the side facing the court, so court length and building orientation set how many doors each building gets. The count has to match the tenant you expect.
Deep and irregular shapes
Side-load suits parcels too deep or irregular for front and rear courts. With five sizes from 180k to 350k sf, the mix decides how much of the site gets used.
From Your Parcel to a Deal You Can Underwrite
Start from the side-load park 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 side-load buildings, 36 ft clear, 5 sizes from 180k to 350k sf
- Site layout: docks on one long side facing a shared internal truck court, trailer and car parking
- Your edits: building sizes, orientation, docks, the shared court, 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.
Side-Load Distribution Site Planning FAQ
What is a side-load distribution center?
A distribution building with dock doors along one long side wall, facing a truck court shared with neighboring buildings.
What is the difference between a side-load and a rear-load warehouse?
A rear-load building puts its docks on the rear wall, away from the street, with the court behind it. In this side-load layout, buildings face their docks onto a shared internal court between them, which fits deep or irregular parcels where front and rear courts won't.
What kind of site works for a side-load park?
Deep, narrow or irregular parcels where a standard front-load or rear-load court doesn't fit. Load your parcel in TestFit with this layout to see how many buildings fit.
What is a shared internal truck court?
A single truck court between buildings that their docks face onto. Trucks use one paved area for several buildings, instead of each building carrying its own court.
Can I change the layout after it generates?
Yes. Start from this layout, then edit buildings, docks, the shared court, 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.