|
I’m hoping someone here might have some experience with renting a storefront. I’m trying to figure out if what I want to do is even legal. My town is littered with empty retail space. There are boarded-up shops all over the place, and most of them have sat vacant since I moved here almost 2 years ago. I haven’t gotten specifics on rent, but I was told that many of these locations are comically cheap. Now, my friends and I are climbers, and I have been trying to find an empty barn or garage for us to build a bouldering wall in. This has been super unsuccessful, and it got me thinking about a storefront as a possible solution. Basically, I just want to throw up a climbing wall for my friends and I to mess around on. I have no interest in opening it up to the public or charging for it beyond (hopefully) splitting the expenses with my friends. I have never rented anything besides an apartment, so I’m not sure if what I want to do is allowed. Is there something that prevents me from renting space just to gently caress around with a few buddies?
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2020 06:54
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 15:14 |
|
|
At a minimum you're going to need a business license before any landlord will give you the time of day, at which point you will need liability insurance so that when your buddy shows up drunk/high and falls off the wall he can't sue you into oblivion. Liability insurance will require the space to be up to code before they cover it, with particular regard to fire protection and suppression. If you will be doing a permanent/semi-permanent installation, you will also need to comply with local building code and get permits for any modifications you perform on the space, regardless of whether you plan to open to the public or not. This may or may not require hiring an architect, engineer, and/or general contractor. Basically, what you're trying to do is totally possible, but I hope you've got a lot of money to burn if you want to do it safely and legally. If you do it unsafely/and or illegally, don't be surprised when the landlord tells you to gently caress off and seizes the contents of the space as soon as they find out you violated your lease agreement.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2020 10:33
|
|
|
Coasterphreak posted:At a minimum you're going to need a business license before any landlord will give you the time of day, at which point you will need liability insurance so that when your buddy shows up drunk/high and falls off the wall he can't sue you into oblivion. Liability insurance will require the space to be up to code before they cover it, with particular regard to fire protection and suppression. If you will be doing a permanent/semi-permanent installation, you will also need to comply with local building code and get permits for any modifications you perform on the space, regardless of whether you plan to open to the public or not. This may or may not require hiring an architect, engineer, and/or general contractor. Thanks for the walkthrough. I guess it makes sense that you'd need to be operating a business to rent business space. I figure that would probably make this about an order of magnitude more expensive than I had been hoping.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2020 17:50
|
|
|
There are storage unit areas where some people open up retail space. You see a lot of personal trainers or auto techs in these kind of spaces. I'd bet you could rent a space with a 20ft ceiling and throw a climbing wall up without anybody giving too much of a poo poo, but as mentioned already you still have the potential liability of enabling your friends to hurt themselves in your space.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2020 23:51
|
|
|
Also, they're my be additional rules and regulations about what you can do with a retail space, depending on where you're renting (and I'm not talking about laws). They might require that the place be open to the public and stuff like that. Also, there may be non-compete rules, and so if someone else nearby has a climbing wall. Also, you'll probably want to consult with a lawyer about zoning regulations and stuff like that. That's not something I can talk about because I'm not a lawyer, but you don't want to be caught unaware. Are you going to have to have occupancy and other certifications like that? Basically, it's not going to be simple.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2020 06:08
|
|
|
Legal stuff aside, if you count on your friends to do any God drat thing long term they're going to really disappoint you. You'll do the math, rent/insurance/equipment etc. You'll gather everyone up and say look how cheap this would be per person if we split it! They'll all agree it's so reasonable and are totally in. When the end of the month rolls around you'll be the first bill to get ignored. It's tight this month. My car broke. One month, then three, then they won't text you back and you never see them anymore. Not saying don't do it. Just only do it if you're willing to pay the whole bill alone.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2020 00:42
|
|
|
honda whisperer posted:Legal stuff aside, if you count on your friends to do any God drat thing long term they're going to really disappoint you. Or you forgot the "I didn't use it this month!" Generally, whenever friends get an idea that involves more than a weekend of commitment, you better really know your friends.
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2020 04:42
|
|
|
Inspector 34 posted:There are storage unit areas where some people open up retail space. You see a lot of personal trainers or auto techs in these kind of spaces. I'd bet you could rent a space with a 20ft ceiling and throw a climbing wall up without anybody giving too much of a poo poo, but as mentioned already you still have the potential liability of enabling your friends to hurt themselves in your space. I've been trying to hit up storage spaces, but the nicely set up ones (tall ceilings, climate controlled, not seedy as gently caress) aren't interested. honda whisperer posted:Legal stuff aside, if you count on your friends to do any God drat thing long term they're going to really disappoint you. I'm only pursuing options that make sense if I'm the only one paying. I need a place to climb, and having friends there with me is just a bonus. This whole process has been aggravating though. I went in to this thinking that it shouldn't be too hard to find some property owner who would jump at the chance to make a little money on a short term basis while their building otherwise sits empty. Obviously, as you all have pointed out, it's a hell of a lot more complicated than that. Baronash fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Feb 7, 2020 |
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2020 04:51
|
|
|
Have you looked at warehouses?
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2020 09:20
|
|
|
Have you looked at mountains?
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2020 23:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 15:14 |
|
|
Why does this need to be indoors? Couldn’t you just erect this wall of doom in one of your friends’ back yards on some scaffolding or build it onto the side of your house or something? I assume all of you rent and live in shoeboxes, but you might look into leasing land rather than a building maybe? When I ran a business office, our lease was explicit that we couldn’t do anything “dangerous” which was loosely defined and we had to carry fire insurance in addition to liability insurance. They also had clauses about the kind of business we could conduct, products allowed and hours of operation (sorry, no 3am shifts!). Most of this was to protect their property from stupid people trying to invent hydrogen powered devices or some crazy stuff like that. This was just a small 5 person office for software development. I can’t imagine what those karate dojo’s pay in insurance alone... Slayerjerman fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Apr 14, 2020 |
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2020 06:46
|
|
