How to Read a LoopNet Listing for a Lease
To read a LoopNet listing, treat it as a starting point and ask for the information needed to evaluate the property.
At Reach Commercial Real Estate, we represent tenants. We help you find locations, compare costs, investigate property questions and negotiate the lease. You bring your business plans. We help you evaluate where those plans fit.
This guide covers the information we request for each candidate, the cost items that make up total occupancy cost, and how Melbourne's zoning tables and parking code apply to a listing's use and square footage.
1. Read a LoopNet listing for the numbers we request
A listing gives us a starting point. We ask for the information needed to evaluate the property.
For each candidate, we request:
Asking rent and quoted square footage.
CAM or NNN estimates and other lease charges.
Annual rent increases.
Previous use and available floor plans.
Known use restrictions.
Parking arrangements.
Sign criteria.
Existing equipment and available records.
Proposed landlord work.
Improvement allowance.
Availability and delivery condition.
CAM means common area maintenance. NNN generally refers to property tax, insurance and maintenance charges. We ask what the proposed lease includes rather than rely on the label.
2. Add up the total occupancy cost
We tour with you and write down what the flyer left out, then line up offers on total occupancy cost per year.
We compare more than base rent. Your occupancy review should include:
Base rent.
CAM and other additional charges.
Scheduled increases.
Utilities.
Repairs and maintenance assigned to you.
Construction and equipment installation.
Deposits.
Rent due before opening.
The comparison should show what you pay to get open and what you pay to stay open.
3. Check the listed use against Melbourne's zoning tables
Melbourne lists every allowed use by zoning district in Tables 1A and 1B of Appendix B. A use is permitted by right or it needs conditional use approval.
When a use isn't listed, the Community Development Director decides whether it's allowed in the district and whether it's permitted or conditional.
Melbourne's Planning and Zoning Division can check the address to assist in determining whether your business would be permitted at the location and whether other site improvements are required, according to Melbourne's Starting a New Business Toolkit.
Melbourne's zoning code defines retailing as an establishment where the principal use is the selling or renting of goods or merchandise to the general public in small lots for personal or household consumption. The term does not include service uses, restaurants and bars.
A conditional use goes to city council. Council grants it by ordinance after a public hearing before the planning and zoning board, and the application is signed and notarized by every owner of the land. The city's fee page lists the conditional use fee at $1,375.00 plus a $125.00 legal advertisement fee.
A landlord's willingness to lease to your business does not replace the local government's review. We want to know which approvals apply before you commit.
4. Check the gross floor area against the parking code
Melbourne's Land Development Code, Sec. 9.72, counts parking from the use:
Retail store: one space for each 300 square feet of gross floor area, excluding storage area up to ten percent of the gross floor area.
Restaurant with seating: one space for each three seats, plus one per employee on the largest working shift, plus two bicycle spaces per 100 seats.
Beauty salon or barbershop: two spaces per station.
For a retail store of 3,000 square feet of gross floor area with no storage area excluded, 3,000 divided by 300 is 10 spaces.
For a restaurant with 24 seats and 3 employees on the largest working shift, that's 11 spaces before bicycle parking.
For a salon with 6 stations, 6 times 2 is 12 spaces.
5. Keep the property under investigation until the answers arrive
If a critical answer is missing, we keep the property under investigation. We do not treat an unanswered question as an approval.
Already found a space? Send me the address and listing. We will start with the property questions and deal terms you need to investigate.
6. Know the lease terms you can ask for
Once you select a property, we negotiate the business terms, and your Florida commercial leasing attorney reviews the legal language and documents.
We negotiate rent, free rent, tenant improvement dollars and renewal options. You can ask for CAM caps and a TI allowance.
An allowance, rent-free period or other concession only helps when the written terms fit your project.
Extra items to check
Off-site parking. Outside Melbourne's CB-OZ overlay, no more than 50 percent of required parking can be off-site, and those spaces must be within 500 feet under a recorded binding lot agreement (Sec. 9.75).
Brevard County zoning map. Brevard County's Planning and Zoning page has a Zoning Map for determining a property's official future land use and zoning classification within Unincorporated Brevard County.
Your sign. For each candidate, we request the sign criteria. Signage is on the list of work that requires a permit in Melbourne's Building Section FAQ.
Courtesy inspection. Brevard County Fire Rescue's Office of Fire Prevention offers free courtesy inspections for businesses with fire and life safety questions about a potential new location.
Start your search with Reach
You do not need to find the property before calling us. Helping you find and evaluate the property is part of our work.
Bring your requirements, budget, preferred area and target opening date. For each candidate, we request asking rent and quoted square footage, previous use and available floor plans, and known use restrictions. We will use those details to build your search, compare locations and negotiate the lease. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Call 321-514-0876.
Related: the leasing guide and the guide to operating expenses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a zoning verification letter cost?
Melbourne's fee page lists a zoning verification letter at $157.00. Unincorporated Brevard County's fee list shows a Written Zoning Verification Fee of $37.50.
Who sets parking for a use the code doesn't list?
Under Sec. 9.73(b)(1), the parking requirements of a similar use apply, and the city engineer determines the required parking when a development plan is submitted. Appeals go to the board of adjustment in writing within 30 days of the engineer's decision (Sec. 9.73(c)).
Where can I look up the zoning for an address in Melbourne?
Melbourne says zoning and land use information can be found in the city's online mapping information system, by searching the address of the property or the seven-digit tax account number. The zoning is available in Tables 1a and 1b in the Zoning Code, and the Planner of the Day can be reached at 321-608-7500.
Sources
Written by Cassandra Hartford, founder and CEO of Reach Commercial Real Estate. She has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years, representing buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across Florida's Space Coast.
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