We have been making excellent progress with our DI efforts. As this deal is more complicated than ones in the past, we are juggling a lot of interdependent tasks but making great headway. That is not to say there are not some significant hurdles remaining. Here is a quick update on our progress:
• Lease Agreement – We have been exchanging comments with the landlord and so far seem to have resolved most of the major issues. We probably have a few more weeks left to conclude this task. One major requirement of the lease we need to solve for is coming up with a year’s worth of prepaid rent. So, we are in search of a very short term loan to help cover this cost with the expectation that we will pay this off within a year of opening the DI facility. If you have any ideas or wish to help let us know.
• Capital Costs – We have been diligently working out all the costs of all the improvements we need to make to the building, like the ice house, bathrooms and all the building code upgrades. After working with the numbers, the capital costs come to around $760k. This is about $80k more than we estimated for our last DI property which is primarily due to having 5 instead of 4 sheets and to upgrade the bathrooms.
• Planning & Building Department Review – The city of San Leandro offer to review our plans and give us feedback on any requirements we may have missed and confirm parking will not be an issue. We are expecting to submit our plans shortly and should have their feedback within a few weeks.
• Business Plan – We are putting the final touches on updating the DI business plan and should have that posted shortly.
• Sublease to Bay Area Derby Girls (BAD) – Put on your skates, because we are going to have a roller rink on the premises! BAD has confirmed their interest in subleasing to us for about 1/3 of the space. We are currently working out the subleasing details.
• Member Approval – Before we can sign a lease, the SFBACC membership will hold a vote to approve moving forward with this specific property. An announcement is forthcoming shortly.