TRAVEL + RESEARCH

Day #1:

Usually couldn’t sleep the night before, triple checking all gear, drawings, etc. 

4 AM to the Airport. 

Breakfast in the concourse.

Flight time (It’s REALLY difficult to be over 6′ tall, traveling in coach and try to work on anything when the person in front of you reclines their seat). 

Once I landed and grabbed a rental car or bus or cab – I was off to the project site. Sometimes it was storefront, but the majority of the reports that I did were mall spaces. 

For retail tenant spaces – the mall has specific design guidelines to what can be done to modify the tenant facade, and the space in general. For stand-alone lease spaces, these restrictions aren’t usually as defined and presented to the interested tenant. 

A quick meet with the leasing agent and/or the facilities management of the property for a meeting and a quick tour. Usually this took us to the electrical room and back-of-house spaces that supported the tenant space. Loading, Trash, Electrical Service, Switchgear location… photo documentation of all of it. 

If the space was occupied, I’d get a quick introduction with the store manager and with the printed drawings in hand – would start into field verification of the existing spaces. In mall spaces, the tenant documentation was generally pretty accurate. 

After a full day of field measurements and photos to document the existing, the next day was a scheduled meeting (if you could get one) with the AHJ (Authority having jurisdiction) to uncover any potential landmines in the process that would delay a project that needed to get permitted and constructed as quickly as possible. 

Hotel Check-in: 8-10pm. 

Dinner: Wherever you can find it. Hotel kitchen is usually closed, so sometimes it was gas station food, or fast food of some sort. 

Work on the report, refine any measurements taken, go thru photos taken – make sure there’s nothing that was missed. Verify, verify, verify. If something is unclear – there might be a return trip to the space to double check prior to take-off. 

12pm (or later): Pass out. 

On most trips, by this point I would have been awake for 30 hours or more. If it was a large stand-alone tenant space – I wouldn’t get to the hotel until 1AM. 

Day #2:

Repack everything and check out of the hotel. If you’re cabbing it to the AHJ meeting – this means sitting in a city office with a suitcase full of gear. 

If a meeting could be obtained, which wasn’t often, take notes and establish points of contact. Otherwise – grab business cards and contact information from the receptionist and any free literature you can gather for verification and follw-up as you’re writing the due diligence report. 

Spend an hour grabbing coffee, being a tourist in whatever city you’re in (sometimes this takes place during the dinner part before bedtime the night before if there’s a chance to explore). 

Wheels up for the return flight. Afternoon/late night return flight to extend as much time as possible in case there are any follow-ups or sitting in the AHJ’s office for 2+ hours is necessary to talk to someone.