FRC Build Season Workshop Resources

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by EricH

What we have: an empty grocery store warehouse area ...

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?