How to Spot a Second Generation Space
To spot a second generation space, ask for the previous use, the existing equipment and the available records.
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.
The Florida Building Code addresses hoods in Mechanical section 507.2, grease interceptors in Plumbing section 1003.3.1, waste lines in Existing Building section 1010.2 and salon exhaust in Mechanical Table 403.3.1.1.
1. Spot a second generation space: request the records
A listing gives us a starting point. We ask for the information needed to evaluate the property.
For each candidate, we request:
Previous use and available floor plans.
Existing equipment and available records.
Proposed landlord work.
Availability and delivery condition.
We also compare different starting conditions: a former cafe, another retail space or an unfinished space. Each needs its own cost and construction review.
Second-generation space is on our tenant checklist, along with co-tenants that bring customers, visibility and parking at peak hours.
If a critical answer is missing, we keep the property under investigation. We do not treat an unanswered question as an approval.
2. Check the hood over the cooking line
Request records for existing equipment, including the hood.
Type I hoods are required where cooking appliances produce grease or smoke, and over medium-duty, heavy-duty and extra-heavy-duty cooking appliances (Florida Building Code, Mechanical, section 507.2). The code excuses an electric appliance that an approved testing agency has documented at 5 mg/m3 or less of grease at 500 cfm under UL 710B.
When a change of occupancy brings different kitchen exhaust requirements or increased mechanical ventilation requirements, the new occupancy has to comply with the Florida Building Code, Mechanical (Existing Building, section 1009.1).
Ask your team to evaluate the systems the business depends on.
3. Follow the drains and the grease interceptor
The photos never show where the drain lines run.
The Florida Building Code requires a grease interceptor on drains that carry grease from food preparation: pot sinks, prerinse sinks, floor drains where kettles empty, and dishwashers without a prerinse sink (Plumbing, section 1003.3.1). The plumbing official approves its size, type and location (section 1003.2).
If the new occupancy is a food-handling establishment, the Existing Building Code requires existing sanitary waste lines above food and drink preparation or storage areas to be panned or otherwise protected, and it bars new drain lines above those areas (section 1010.2).
Florida Building Code, Plumbing, Table 403.1 lists restaurants at one water closet per 75 for each sex, one lavatory per 200 and one service sink.
4. Check the exhaust in a former salon
Our tenant checklist covers specialty plumbing such as shampoo sinks, grease trap and extra restrooms, along with HVAC and ventilation.
Florida Building Code, Mechanical, Table 403.3.1.1 lists exhaust of 0.6 cfm per square foot for beauty salons and nail salons. Footnote b requires mechanical exhaust and prohibits recirculation of air from those spaces. Recirculation of air contained completely within those spaces is not prohibited.
Footnote h requires each manicure and pedicure station in a nail salon to have a source capture system that exhausts at least 50 cfm per station.
For promising spaces, bring your contractor and design professional into the review. We help gather property information. They evaluate the technical work and cost.
Our role is to help bring these findings into your property decision. Your qualified professionals and reviewing agencies determine the requirements.
5. Confirm the food-service plan review
DBPR lists these plan review triggers: newly built, converted from another use, remodeled, and re-opened after being closed at least 18 months, according to its plan review page.
A remodel includes adding new equipment, removing existing equipment or moving equipment from its previously approved location (Rule 61C-1.002).
Plan review is not required for a change of ownership when no interruption in operation or no change to the establishment occurs.
Each public food service establishment has to maintain at least one bathroom facility available for public use (Rule 61C-4.010).
For projects requiring its plan review, DBPR asks for a complete application, a scale drawing of the floor plan with equipment labeled, and a sample menu.
6. Compare the cost and negotiate the lease
Before assigning value to a former cafe's sinks, counter and equipment, we ask who owns them, what records exist and whether your team finds them suitable for your operation.
We also compare what the landlord offers against what your contractor expects the space to need. The comparison should show what you pay to get open and what you pay to stay open.
Once you select a property, we negotiate the business terms, and your Florida commercial leasing attorney reviews the legal language and documents.
We focus on landlord delivery, tenant improvement allowance and rent commencement. You can ask for a permit contingency, a TI allowance and free rent during the buildout. An allowance, rent-free period or other concession only helps when the written terms fit your project.
Extra items to check
The starting condition. A former cafe, another retail space and an unfinished space each need their own cost and construction review.
Wastewater survey. Everyone connected to Melbourne's sanitary sewer has to comply with the City's Prohibited Discharge Standards and Local Limits, and you can email ipp@mlbfl.org for the Industrial Pretreatment Program Wastewater Survey to learn whether your business needs a permit.
Tax receipt prerequisites. The Brevard County Tax Collector asks you to verify that the prerequisites for the new location are satisfied, such as State License, Building Occupancy, Zoning, City Receipt and Health Inspection.
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.
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 previous use and available floor plans, and existing equipment and available records. We will use those details to build your search, compare locations and negotiate the lease. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Already found a space? Send me the address and listing. We will start with the property questions and deal terms you need to investigate.
Call 321-514-0876.
Related: the leasing guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does a change of occupancy need approval from the code official?
Florida Building Code, Existing Building, section 1001.2 says a change of occupancy can't be made to any structure without the approval of the code official, and a certificate of occupancy is issued once the requirements for the change are met.
What does the Existing Building Code say about plumbing fixtures after a change of use?
Section 1010.1 says a new occupancy with increased or different plumbing fixture requirements has to comply with the intent of the Florida Building Code, Plumbing. Full fixture quantities for the story are required only where its occupant load rises by more than 20 percent.
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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