As a shopping center landlord or retail developer, you might find yourself with a big empty retail space you need fill – especially if you had Borders or Circuit City as a tenant. Finding a single tenant to occupy all that space in today’s economy can be challenging, so the smarter and more feasible move is to hire a retail construction contractor that can provide you with the various pre-bid commercial construction budgets needed for subdividing that big box into a multi-tenant space.

We frequently get asked the question, “How many tenants do we need before a general contractor can give us commercial construction budgets for a shopping center construction job?” The answer is none. Because Englewood Construction has been in the retail construction and shopping center construction field for so long, we have pricing models based on square footage, level of finish and geographic area for virtually every retail and restaurant construction concept.

As long as you know what type of tenants you might want, the best commercial construction firms should be able to give you a pre-construction services construction budget. Case in point – cellular phone places always look for 1,500 square feet, sandwich shops are typically 2,000, fast-casual restaurants want 3,500 and outlet stores are 6,000 to 8,000 square feet.

What typically happens is the first tenant dictates how the rest of the space is divided. Say a big tenant signs a lease that leaves you with 7,500 square feet. You should then ask for construction pricing models for the different ways the remaining space can be used, whether it’s a fine dining restaurant, a mix of middle and high-end retail or even simple office space.

As long as you are working with a general contractor who has shopping center construction experience, your GC will know its construction pricing models should include vanilla box budgeting as well as tenant budgeting, based on the type of tenants you are pursuing. Of course the best Chicago commercial contractors will also factor due diligence with municipalities into their budgets. And if it’s a Chicago commercial construction project, the Mayor Daley black iron fence rule should also be noted by your GC. If your GC doesn’t know that rule, don’t work with them.

Another benefit to working with a GC early on for construction budgeting is that most architectural fees are based off of square footage or the cost of construction. So not only can the right construction firm help determine your square footage rental rates with its construction pricing models, but it can also help figure out your soft costs, too.

When it comes to the physical construction of subdividing your retail space, it’s always smart to “dance with the one you brought.” Use a GC that provided you with pricing models because the firm is already familiar with your project so there isn’t the additional cost and time of getting another commercial construction firm up to speed.

Also, it’s quite possible the shopping center landlord will need to build the tenant’s space, so landlords should align themselves with a shopping center general contractor who is not only experienced in base building construction, but also retail reconstruction. This is especially critical if your retailers have a payment penalty in place if they don’t meet their open date.

www.englewoodconstruction.com