Great location...to Demo or Not to Demo???

[Jesse Martin]

Live in a great town of aprox. 40,000 people.  Have an opportunity to pick up a property that used to be an old restaurant, but has been closed for many years.  it's in "OK" shape but not great.  This property sits in an awesome location right in the center of town next to the mall, restaurants, movie theaters etc...It's on the main road that goes through town with very high traffic.  Sits on just over 1/2 acre with expansion possibilities into a joining parking lot so parking isn't an issue

Ideal situation would be to bring in some sort of franchise, Chick-fil-a or something like that.  Can be any sort of business that would work well in this location.  Looking for ways to get the right person on the phone from a franchise.

The question is when dealing with these franchises, do they typically like to take a property and Ti the building, or is it more attractable to have the building cleared where they can build it however they like...To Demo or Not to Demo?  Do we run into any issues with having to not getting permits if the structure is already there?

In negotiations, and before finalizing wanted to to the leg work of marketing this to the right people.  Able to pick the property up on great terms a lot less than what the asking price was.

Thank You