Still in lease-land

Ah, the next mountain to climb... leases. The landlord had a lease drawn up by his attorney. It was 17 pages of legal words. My agent looked at it and so did I. It had some really scary things. I was going to be responsible for any structural problems. First, that is absurd and secondly, the building was built in 1890. The landlord was going to pick all my insurance policies and I was going to have to pay for them. If the landlord put planter boxes around trees and someone tripped on them, I'd be responsible for any payments. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I started out with the red pen but the more I looked at it the more I was afraid that even if the issues I had were resolved, I would miss something and be liable for who knows what. I told my agent that I refused to sign the lease. He sent me his company's standard lease which was a lot clearer and not slanted toward the landlord. We told the landlord that he needed to substitute this lease or the deal was off. This went back and forth and I was one day away from walking off. In the mean time, the clock was ticking. I needed to open by April or I would miss the wedding season. Finally the owner of my agent's company browbeat the landlord into submission. The landlord wanted to have his attorney look it over before we got down to signatures. I took the first and last month's rent out of my brokerage account so we could go the minute the lease was signed. I then called my builder to see how the timing looked to him. He delivered the bad news - he thought he could make an April opening but that was in early February. If I signed now, he couldn't deliver until the end of May or mid-June. My world crashed. What was I going to do? Open during the down season and just hope that I had enough business to pay part of the rent and I make up the rest by doing another full time contract (remember the day job? I still have it but wanted to go part time). I decided to contact the people who had expressed an interest in my kitchen and ask when they had down times, how much they would use the kitchen and their thoughts about opening in mid-June. The caterer who gives me a lot of advice wrote back first. Yes, she had a down season which was after June until early fall, though because this is an election year she thought she'd be busy for the most part through that time. I'm waiting for the rest of the answers. I drove past the space again (I do that frequently) and was surprised to see no on-street parking which I had been assured there would be on weekends. In addition, the delivery driveway was blocked by a car. I had checked with the police department about what would be done if a car was parked there and all they would do was ticket it. That wouldn't help some poor caterer who had to get the food in the door. Lastly, my son who has a deeper instinct on these things looked at the place and just said 'No'.

I'm not taking the space. My gut feel has been trying to tell me that, my friends have been a little concerned when they hear about the lease and the landlord, and both my caterers and school teachers haven't felt good about the place. I made that decision today. I'm pretty sad. It means I won't open until the fall. It means I have to take another full time contract in June. It means I have to start over again, but in the end I know it is the right decision. I haven't told my broker yet. I'm sure all the people involved in this are going to be irritated but this is a business decision. I have to do what is best for me and I don't want to open and then cave because I can't cover costs.

I started looking online again and have found a promising place (old Togo's restaurant) that is near downtown. I also put an ad in Craigslist looking for space.

I will still open my kitchen but it won't be when I want to. I have to keep faith that the right place is out there. But still, ugh.

Next posting? I'll let you know if I'm still alive after delivering the news..