interesting idea, it may work
there is certainly risk involved
my inital reaction was that the type of people who build boats typically like the idea of saving money and would do it themselves in their basement
but then in a major metropolitan area a large portion of the population lives in apartments and don't have the space therefore I would think there should be a reasonably sized market.

Some related thoughts:
-the challenge will be "getting the word out" more commonly known as advertising. you won't have the funds to afford doing this so you will have to be creative by getting exposure in low cost ways, for example getting local suppliers who would benefit from your operation give you some "no cost" cooperative help/exposure. Make sure you get a local reporter writing a story about you. That is always good free publicity.
-I wouldn't limit myself just to boat building, but would open up the operation to wood working generally. It will give you a bigger market. The key is to also make tools available (at an additional cost).
-a key part of kayak building is working with epoxy and with varnish. with regards to the epoxy you have to make sure the fumes are controlled and people aren't exposed to them. For varnishing you want a dust free environment. Both could be accomodated in a "paint room" which is sectioned off and has adequate ventilation.
-finding extra sources of revenue will obviously help. you could give classes, sell kits and supplies etc.
-you won't get rich on this venture and you risk needing to be there at times which are convenient to the users. Do you really want to be there every night and every weekend. I don't think so, so you will have to figure out whether you can afford to hire help for those times. One options is to give people a key, but then you have to worry about the security of your tools and that they lock up the place after they leave.
-in summary I think the biggest issue is "the size of the market" if you can somehow get a handle on that part, that will help you determine your level of risk

then again, that's probably why you are doing this post.....

good luck with it. Clever idea

: During my work commute (which has gotten longer recently due to road
: construction), I started spinning out scenarios on how to merge my job
: (real estate) with my interest in kayak building. Consider this
: "market research" and your posts (good, bad and ugly) are
: requested: Here goes --
: Background. In many metro areas, the downturn in the economy has created many
: high vacancy situations, most notably in industrial real estate (at least
: in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area). This makes for attractively priced
: lease rates. After securing some modestly priced industrial warehouse
: space, I would offer (for a modest fee) individual boat makers their own
: space (demarcated on the floor) to construct their wooden boats. They
: could be anyone who is pressed for space or doesn't want to slop up their
: living quarters (or whose significant others won't let them slop up their
: living quarters). I envision a sort of "wooden boat building
: incubator", where folks were unified in their hobby and could get
: pointers by a seasoned builder who might be next door.

: Prices would have to be low to make it appealing -- say $100-$150/3 months
: (haven't run the numbers to know if they make sense) with options to buy
: other tools or supplies on site or even rent a boat building
: "toolkit" or the like for an additional fee.

: It sounds like a good idea in theory, but I may just be misjuding the
: interest level that is out there that could support something like this.
: Look forward to reading the responses.

: Greg