Carsue Corp. of Orlando is taking 5,000 sf at the John Young Commerce Center in south Orlando for three years at an aggregate rent of $231,750. Windermere Grill LLC will be occupying 4,000 sf of newly built space in the spring at the Publix-anchored Cornerstone at Summerport Shopping Center in suburban Windermere. That lease is also for three years with options.
Signature associates and partners James K. Densmore and William C. Pellatt negotiated for the tenants in both transactions. A. Todd Davis of Carter & Associates represented landlord Davis, Collins & Harrell in the John Young Commerce center deal. Cornerstone at Summerport LP, owner of the center at Summerport at the Horizons West community, handled the Windermere Grill transaction in house.
Densmore tells GlobeSt.com that "despite a very high mortality rate, Central Florida's restaurant market continues to burgeon." The broker says "many restaurants fail within the first 12 months [of opening] and, if they are fortunate to survive that critical period, need an additional four years to become really established within the marketplace."
Densmore, a broker and restaurant industry consultant for 20 years, says most restaurant ventures fail for three specific reasons--lack of capital, lack of restaurant experience and lack of market knowledge.
Most would-be restaurateurs "often have just enough money to open the business but not enough to sustain the building months," Densmore says. "Our advice is always, 'whatever money you project is needed to build and open a restaurant, double that amount."
The broker says many entrepreneurial types "think opening a restaurant is like preparing and serving Sunday dinner. Well, it is, but it is seven days a week and, in reality, a 24-hour undertaking."
On market knowledge, Densmore notes that would-be restaurant operators "often feel their concepts are unique and the best." He says "that can be a problem if, in fact, they are so unique that the marketplace is not ready for their concept."
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