Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am trying to open a Fast food sandwich restaurant/shop business in metro Atlanta area. The problem is that the leasing agent does not want to rent the unit to small restaurant type businesses. Apparently he wants to lease out a bigger retail space in the property and does not want the parking spaces to be taken out by smaller shops. I have told him that my business will not take much parking area. This is an ideal location for me to run the business so how do I convince the agent to give me the space without pushing it. I spoke to him for the first time today and I am planning on calling him after few days.
He doesn't want to rent it to you. Go find something else to rent.
And yes, fast food does require a lot of parking unless you do 100% drive through with no sit down. Customers might not stay long, but they do park their cars for the 20 minutes or so that they are there and if you are going to be making any money, you will have a lot of customers stopping in every day.
Thanks for the reply. My current business takes about 10 parking spaces, he has 60+ I tried explaining this to him. He want to know the business concept. I am clueless on what this is supposed to mean, it's just a sandwich shop. I have given him the website and the menu of our current restaurant which is subs sandwich, panini and other confectioneries.
I have been looking for a less than 2000 sqft retail space in this area since past 8 months, and this location is vacant since a month. Will a lease broker help (if so how can I find). Any tips for getting agent talk into this would be greatly appreciated
.
Bypass the Agent and try to contact the Property owner.
.
This is kind of a last-gasp tactic. It is extremely rare that an agent and property owner aren't on the same page. Chances are, the agent took the prospective tenant to the owner who balked.
What the OP really needs to understand is the world of the agent. Fast foot restaurants that aren't franchises are dicey propositions. So the agent is likely reluctant to pull the trigger on letting him into a valuable space without some reassurances that this is a going concern, especially when he has the prospect of a larger tenant in the offing. That means having a real biz plan, showing that he has the financial resources to make it through the first lean year, etc. etc.
The other question I have is does the OP have his own agent? That would likely be of enormous value. Agents talk to each other on a different level. What's more, having an agent of one's own is likely to help avoid the pitfalls that come with most new businesses having these transactions.
I am trying to open a Fast food sandwich restaurant/shop business in metro Atlanta area. The problem is that the leasing agent does not want to rent the unit to small restaurant type businesses. Apparently he wants to lease out a bigger retail space in the property and does not want the parking spaces to be taken out by smaller shops. I have told him that my business will not take much parking area. This is an ideal location for me to run the business so how do I convince the agent to give me the space without pushing it. I spoke to him for the first time today and I am planning on calling him after few days.
the concern with smaller startups is they won't last, maybe he does a remodel or lets you remodel you last 6 months and go out of business and he's trying to rent it again. also i always wondered why with all this vacant commercial space why they didn't drop prices. im no accountant but ive aksed around nad heard its often more beneficial for them to leave a unit vacant and write it off as a loss on taxes vs rent it for less money than they'd like.
maybe he'd like to have one tenant take the whole space vs break it up and rent to 3 or 4 tenants
Thanks everyone for their inputs, I just found out that this city (Dunwoody) law states of providing at-least 20 parking spaces per restaurant and take out regardless is a must. This also answer's my question as to why there are no small restaurants in this prime location. As "cpg35223" mentioned of having an agent, I am trying to find one (it would be great if anyone can advise how to find them). I am almost convinced that it is not going to workout here, and have started looking further away.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,570 posts, read 81,147,605 times
Reputation: 57791
There are many factors that determine who an owner will lease to. In some cases it can be zoning, but in others it's a non-compete clause in the lease of another, existing tenant. Overall, landlords prefer a long-term lease with a tenant that takes a lot of square footage over a small one. In your case, if say there are 5,000 sf available and you only take 1,000 they will still have to find tenants for the rest of the space. With 3-4 tenants in that space there is a lot more work administering the leases than one for the entire 5,000.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
