All Forum Posts by: Jay H.

@Jason Marks 

- Regarding initial contact with the tenant reps, how did it go? And how did you obtain contact info for each tenant rep? Many are simply posted on the website but did you ever consider using tenant brokers?

I sourced my reps through my Linked-in network. 

- Can you clarify your development terminology, horizontal vs. vertical? Is horizontal referring to site work, demo, grading, etc and vertical referring to actual buildings cost of the structure? Does the $65 psf include soft costs (entitlements, architecturual and site costs)? 

A- Horizontal = All Site Work. Vertical= Everything from the foundation up.... My 65 per sqft represents vertical only. I was able to actually value engeneer that number down to $57 per sqft. Site work will vary based on the obvious differences in sites. I use a rule of thumb of $125,000 per acre. 

- How did you obtain traffic counts? did it yourself or hire someone? 

A- Co-Star, but you can Google city data and find the same info.

- How long did it take tenants to do their feasibility analysis? (you mentioned about 1 month?)

A- I was lucky, the tenant was already looking at the market area, so it went quicker than normal. On my other, more recent projects the feasibility study took 60-90 days. 

- Regarding your construction loan, how much do you need down? 20% equity? 

A- My bank will give us 85% loan to cost. 

- During the LOI did you have any room to negotiate or was it pretty much "their way or the highway?"

A- I negotiated many points of the lease and terms. Note!!!!!!! Have a Life Lender or CMBS Lender run the lease through their review departments as a last look. They will find details that would become hurdles for future financing, that local construction lenders will overlook.

I am well on my way with the development.... I am sorry for the gap in updates, but WOW this process is not for the weak at heart. I have very detailed notes on the entire process up to this point. What I have to figure out is, how to tastefully detail out my experiences without offending any of the participants that make up the lessons learned. Not that they are readers of this, or maybe they are??

Sorry for the gap in updates, but I have been swamped with the project. I found myself relaxing this weekend and catching up on the Pod Casts, and realized I was neglecting this thread.

Chapter 5 - Permitting- County Commission Approval- General Contractor Issues/Cures Dealing with Bids.

Thanks for all the responces, and sorry for the delayed response!!