Link: Style Weekly : Richmond’s alternative for news, arts, culture and opinion.
One of Shockoe Bottom’s most heralded redevelopment projects smells like chicken-wing grease, charges a lawsuit filed two weeks ago.The landlord of Canal Crossing, at 101 S. 15th St., is suing a tenant — the operator of a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant — claiming the persistent smell of grease is seeping into posh neighboring offices and disturbing other tenants.
You can read all the play-by-play details for yourself in the above-referenced link. I just wanted to point out why landlords do (or should) think ahead when allowing a particular business to set up shop in their buildings. I love restaurants, and do a lot of business with restaurants, but even I have to admit that they have an impact on the other tenants in the building — especially a busy and successful restaurant such as Buffalo Wild Wings.
I certainly don’t know the particulars of the case, so I don’t entertain the idea that I know what is exactly going on here (so my comments should not reflect on how the case should be handled).
The key here is: Before you accept a tenant, think about how that business will affect the rest of the tenants in your property. In the same vein, think about how the tenant will affect your property itself. Heavy usage means more wear and tear, which should be reflected in the upfront negotiations — and not brought up as a surprise later.
There are similar considerations for residential renting and leasing. In my decision to rent out my house, I had to consider not only the impact of the two people and their two cats on my house, but their general conduct and the impact of them and their stuff and their overall habits on the neighbors. I may not be there, but I am still a neighbor to those people, and I would like to remain in good standing. The biggest benefit to my neighborhood has been the wareness and helpfulness of my neighbors, I would like to make sure I continue to have that benefit in the future.
That’s a good point, limberwulf. Of course, it’s trickier with residential property because of fair-housing regulations. Virginia is very pro-tenant when it comes to residential leasing.
True, however, I am in a position where I have a little mroe flexibility. One must own, if I am not mistaken, more than 4 family units before fair housing kicks in. Of course, I would wish to operate in the spirit of the fair housing act anyway, but I think the laws were left open on the low end on purpose:
1) to allow someone who owned a few peices of property to give preference to his or her own family without legal issues and 2) to encourage the small investor to offer housing, rather than leave it all to large communities. Many people would be daunted by regulation, even tho they may not have a personal preudices, just because of the general headaches invovled in being a landlord as it is.