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Originally Posted by DeepWater
This idea intrigues me. I have wondered if there were any teams that make use of empty store buildings. I only know of one team that was able to make use of an empty grocery store last year and I wondered how they did it. There are several large empty store buildings in our town. A very large “warehouse type” grocery store, and old Kmart building, a large empty hardware store that went under when Home Depot came to town, and several others. There is also a mall here that is just about empty from end to end. Probably less than 15 stores in the whole thing including all of the DoD recruiters in separate storefronts. There must be dozens of empty storefronts in the mall. I have wondered if it would be possible to get access to one of these locations but wouldn’t know how to go about it. I wonder about things like liability and insurance and power.
Can anyone relay their experience with using an empty commercial store type building? Did you have to lease it or were you able to get it as a donation? If the owner does donate the use of the building for a few months can they take it as a tax write-off? Since the mall closes at 9:00 how would we work late into the night? How much does electricity run per month to heat a Kmart size building? All of these buildings around here have been for sale for years with no signs of them being sold anytime soon. What sort of insurance would a team have to have to cover liability on a Kmart size building? I guess I fear that even if we could somehow get to use a big store building for a couple of months rent free we couldn’t afford the other costs to use it. Where would we start? At the realtor that has the building listed for sale?
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We are actually working through this set of problems at the moment. Our new rookie team called several leasing agencies for empty store fronts near the school. One of the leasing companies has agreed to donate the use of two storefronts for our team for the next 4 months. Since they will be donating the space, they will receive a tax-deduction.
They have also agreed to donate utilities during our temporary use including water and electricity. The only thing we will need to get on our own will be phone and internet.
As far as liability, the school system has agreed that since the space will be primarily used for a school club activity, their liability coverage can be extended to the space. We are working through the paperwork associated with that as we speak.
Overall it is a win-win for all involved. The leasor/owner gets a tax-deduction on a space they have been unable to fill. We get the space we need during build season for little to no cost and we can interact with the community as they pass by.