You just leased a new space for your Long Beach business1 Unfortunately, the space needs some work before you can move in and start operating your business out of it. You may have been able to negotiate a tenant improvement allowance into your lease terms to cover some or all of the costs associated with making it suitable for your business, but now what? If the space needs more than just cosmetic changes (new flooring, paint, and fixtures), your first call should be to an architect who specializes in tenant improvements in Long Beach.
An architect who is experienced with tenant improvements will not only be able to help you visualize how your new space can best be used, he or she can also draw up the plans that you will need to submit to the city prior to starting construction. In most cases, those plans will need to include changes that bring the space up to the current building code.
Mark Grisafe, owner and lead architect at Grisafe Architecture in Long Beach, had this to say about tenant improvements: “When we work with businesses in Long Beach on tenant improvements, not only do we help them design a space that will work for their particular business, we also help them bring the space up to code. The building code gets updated every three years, so a building that was constructed before the latest standards were released will likely need some changes for it to be in compliance. When we submit plans to the city for approval, they will include all of the necessary changes—the ones the business wants and those that the city needs to see in order to approve the plans.”
Grisafe continued, “When we work with business owners on tenant improvements in Long Beach, we spend a good amount of time learning about their businesses and their specific needs. Every business is unique, and we love learning about different industries and creating spaces for them that will help them be as successful as possible.”
As you look for an architect to help you with your tenant improvement project in Long Beach, look for one that has a good reputation for working with the City of Long Beach to get project approved in a timely manner. This typically means that the architect or architecture firm takes the time to produce thorough plans the first time around, and doesn’t need their plans to go through multiple revisions in order to be approved. You should also look for a tenant improvement architect who listens to your concerns and needs and doesn’t try to talk you out of them. After all, no one knows your business better than you!
