When you first think of Grapevine, TX, you probably think of outlet malls. But the city is a prime area for many kinds of commercial real estate. When we were approached with the opportunity to draw up plans for renovating and adding on to a large building on Main Street, we couldn’t pass up the chance to work with such an interesting project.
On the surface, this building might not seem unique or interesting. What made it so intriguing for us was the challenges represented on the inside of the building. We will share a more detailed description about some of the structural and foundational issues of this building in a second post, but we will give a brief overview here.
The Plan:
One of the things that made this building interesting right away was the fact that it was two structures joined together with two sets of doors. The larger of these structures was a CMU block building with a steel internal from and low slope roof. The smaller building was a concrete tilt-wall structure with a steel roof frame and low slope roof. The entire 15,000 square foot structure showed signs of major foundation problems, and the exterior was beginning to crumble. To someone looking at the building, it might not even seem to be worth the time to draw up plans for its renovation, let alone to complete the process of constructing that renovation. It’s true that the issues found in this building were ones that required creative problem solving and foresight. However, the advantages of the building’s size, the potential for rental space, and the prime location made the process of renovating the space worth it.
The drawings for this project were completed all at once, but we decided that the construction process would occur in two phases for maximum benefit. The first phase was to renovate and add to the larger portion of the building that faced Main Street. This space was chosen to be the first phase because of its ability to draw in foot traffic from Main Street and because its large size allowed it to be sectioned into smaller spaces that could be rented out for retailers. Once this portion of the building was completed and began to generate income, the plan was to focus on renovating the smaller building.
The Outcome:
Few things are as gratifying as the opportunity to take something viewed as crumbling and unattractive and turn it into something that has life and purpose without just tearing it down and starting over. These kinds of projects are usually the most challenging, because they require us to work with the skeleton of someone else’s decisions, good or bad, and create something that is more viable and successful. Because success is often in the hands of public attitude, our role is to foresee possibilities and use our experience to gauge what things will attract customers. Doing this allows the success of the project to be clear after completion.
In the case of this retail space in Grapevine, the project was a great success. The building was renovated into 8 different retail suites, 16 executive offices, a few conference and break rooms, and over 6 rentable storage spaces. Beyond this investment potential, the building blends very well into the streetscape that has evolved on Main Street. A once unruly eyesore for downtown Grapevine has been changed into a beautiful space that gives life to the area.
These projects are some of our favorite to work on, and we look forward to the challenges and opportunities they present. If you’re interested in learning more about our work with commercial properties, we would enjoy setting up a free initial assessment with you. Contact us at 806.702.8969 to set up a time!