The Wedding Shoppe
Berkley, Michigan (Owned)
Delivered: October 2017
Total Cost: $1.20MM
• Plan: Acquire a vacant and blighted 9,000 square foot retail building. Perform complete turnkey, first-class improvements and deliver to highly discerning tenant.
• Potential Deal Breakers: Convincing a tenant to move and sign a lease predicated on a complete and wholesale building and lot renovation.
Result: complete gut and renovation performed in 120 days with tenant moving in five weeks ahead of schedule.
Cartessa’s Wedding Shoppe Building Featured on FOX2 News
Westport Shoppes
Port St. Lucie, Florida (Owned)
Delivered February 2009
Total Cost: $5.00MM
• Plan: acquire vacant and decrepit Chevron gasoline service station, which was considered to be the gateway to St. Lucie West by the local townsfolk, and construct a 12,000 square foot retail strip center anchored by Vitamin Shoppe, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Panda Express, the first national Chinese eatery. Further adding to the success of this premium strip center are Little Caesars Pizza, MetroPCS Cellular Services and ReMax Residential.
• Potential Deal Breakers: former gasoline service station contained inherent contamination stigma; ultra high land cost, and the worst financing environment since the Great Depression.
Result: effective pre-leasing resulted in 75% in commitments at rates sufficient to begin construction and, after completion, 100% occupancy was achieved.
Panera Plaza
Sterling Heights, Michigan (Owned)
Delivered: March 2005 | Total Cost: $2.637MM
• Plan: acquire outlot from Meijer super center and develop a 5,000 square foot Panera store
• Potential Deal Breakers: seller Meijer unmotivated to sell, economics such that Panera rent alone will not
support the development.
Result: Panera convinced to acquiesce on parking needs such that an additional 5,000 square feet would be allowed to be constructed thus resulting in healthy rent and, therefore, healthy project profit. Seller convinced to
perform in exchange for an annual pass through common area maintenance fee.
Port City Plaza
Port Huron, Michigan
Delivered: February 2008
Total Cost: $2.495MM
• Plan: acquire outlot from WalMart super center and develop a 10,000 square foot strip shopping center to be tenanted by GameStop and Great Clips.
• Potential Deal Breakers: Seller WalMart disallowed multi-tenant strip center plan.
Result: we uncovered a lot split prohibition such that no outlots could be sold due to WalMart’s refusal to complete a connection drive it had promised; we then leveraged that knowledge and our promise to complete WalMart’s obligation to achieve WalMart’s acquiescence to a multi-tenant strip at the subject site.
Pinellas Groves Plaza
Largo, Florida
Delivered: November 2004 | Total Cost: $1.537MM
• Plan: vacant since 1987, we sought to acquire a vacant and decrepit Mobil gasoline service station and construct a 5,000 square foot strip shopping center to be anchored by Starbucks.
• Potential Deal Breakers: former gasoline service station contained inherent contamination stigma; adjacent property owner alleged easement by prescription during construction; anchor Starbucks reluctant to commit to older populace.
Result: contamination not as bad as assumed and indemnity obtained from Mobil; negotiated annual payment to neighbor and obtained title insurance settlement, long-term purchase agreement secured providing for anchor Starbucks to pass on the site two times before finally committing.
Winter Park Starbucks
Winter Park, Florida
Delivered: May 2004 | Total Cost: $682k
• Plan: acquire vacant and decrepit Exxon gasoline service station, considered to be at the gateway to Winter Park by the local townsfolk, and groundlease to adjacent Walgreen’s to improve Walgreen’s parking, visibility, and image.
• Potential Deal Breakers: former gasoline service station contained inherent contamination stigma; very small site (10,000 square feet of land) presented potential deal-breaking drainage issue; Walgreen’s reluctant to commit to appropriate rent.
Result: contamination not as bad s assumed and, indemnity obtained from Exxon; disregarded Walgreen’s to secure a 1,500 square foot stand alone build-to-suit lease from Starbucks; convinced municipality to permit adaptive reuse of former underground drainage system.
Tampa Starbucks
Tampa, Florida
Delivered: March 2005 | Total Cost: $839k
• Plan: acquire vacant and decrepit Mobil gasoline service station and perform a 1,800 square foot build-to-suit for Starbucks.
• Potential Deal Breakers: former gasoline service station contained inherent contamination stigma; site located in what appeared to be a very low income area; site located in historical district subjecting the site to the purview of the city historical commission.
Result: contamination not as bad as assumed and indemnity obtained from Mobil; performed additional demographic analysis to show Starbucks that the neighborhoods were undergoing gentrification and, therefore, the future customers were of higher incomes and more likely to become a Starbucks customer; obtained resident support for new store to block the historical commission’s attempts to bastardize the site layout and massively upgrade the architectural treatments.
Notable: we obtained a variance allowing the 75 interstate sign to be refaced and, to date, it is the largest Starbucks sign east of the Mississippi River.