Asa Jay's weblog

Yesterday I heard from Chad Carper regarding the space next to Dominos Pizza in Airway Heights.  After several attempts to contact the representatives at Tomlinson Black Commercial, I found that Chad’s name, with Kiemle & Hagood, was recently posted on the property.  I called Chad and left a message last week, and he promptly called me back once he was back in town on Monday.   Chad’s number is 755-7572.
Chad is actually the person who found the land and helped a developer build the location.  The developer then sold it to another owner, and that owner is now trying to sell the property as well.  The current price is set at $1.3M.  That’s a bit more than I want to spend, I’m more interested in leasing a the moment which is what we talked about first.
The current space available is 3000 sq. ft. which can be divided into two spaces.  Chad told me there were no specific plans, so the space could be used as one large area, or could be leased anywhere between 1200 and 1800 sq. ft.  This location out of all the others so far, gives me the most options.  The old Premier Video was 3700 sq. ft. but there was no option to divide it. The spaces at Hayford Rd. were all pre-set, but had a varying degree of sizes.  This spot allows me the flexibility to choose something within the area my floor planning is coming up with.

The space is approximately 70 feet deep, so if I’m interested in this space I can massage my floor plans appropriately.  There are two restrooms currently installed, one for each of two space the 3000 sq. ft. can be divided into.  The lease price is $15.75 per sq. ft. per year, with $2.50 per sq. ft. triple net (taxes, insurance and common area maintenance).
There are no remodelling restrictions as long as they are approved by the building owner.  I was told I could put in a deli and a coffee bar if I wanted.  Chad mentioned I might not want to put in a grill since it would be very costly to install an overhead hood vent system.  I’ll have to keep that in mind.

As for the term, Chad said they ae negotiable, right up front.  There was no talk about a five year lease being mandatory or even preferred.  In fact, Chad told me the owners were open to providing the first three or four months FREE with the signing of a three or five year lease.   This was by far the most flexible a plan I have been approached with yet and Chad seemed very calm and open about what we could do to get my business into the building.

I must say I had the best conversation with Chad out of any of the other people I’ve talked to regarding space.  He also complimented me on my forethought of questions to ask, at one point believing I already owned or was leasing other properties.  That tells me I’ve begun to understand many of the things I need to know when it come to leasing a place.

Well, in the end, this spot falls in the mid-range of leasing cost per square foot.  However, it also has the most flexible arrangement of features so far, between space and leasing terms.  The only drawback right now is the parking available.  There are only two non-handicap spots out front, along with two handicap spots.  There is however a 17 space lot out back that was put in as part of the construction.  That just means I might need to use the back door as a valid customer entrance.  Overall, I’m really liking this spot more than any other right now.

Another thing to think about is that this space would be a good “starter” space and location.  If the business was successful and needed to grow, I could possibly expand it into the remaining space (if not leased at the time), or even move into something larger in a different location.

I was on the phone with Chad for a little over 20 minutes.  Today I need to study for a mid-term I’m taking tonight so I won’t get to the spreadsheet today, but I have enough info on leasing and locations that I can build something now.  I’ll have to work on that tomorrow.

The last option I wanted to get information on, was the idea of buying land and building.  I know that would be the greater expense so it’s probably not the best idea, but one I think I should get information on anyway.

That’s all for now.

Asa Jay

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 09:02 and is filed under Entrepreneurial Internship, School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.