buying a building. help please?

Question

well i want to open a restaurant in my local town and theres this building it used to be a christian church i would say its like 25 feet wide and 80 feet long but is not in very good condition the windows are broken and theres doors that are broken the inside needs some work. its for sale but how would i know how much the place is worth? thanks in advance. :)

Answer 1

I own a small business and took steps towards opening a small restaurant. I was looking at a rehab space. Bottom line the costs added up so quickly it was not feasable.
If this is your first restaurant, I would avoid trying to do two very risky things you most likely have never done before, 1 rehab a building and convert its use, 2. open a restaurant.
Sorry to be direct, but I would say if you could just do 2 that would be major success.
Off the top of my head it sounds like you are looking at $30-$50 of rehab, before you get into the actual items for the business. Also is there a zoning issue. I would say that site is not zoned for commercial. Zoning is a funny issue and can be easy, or a nightmare. I can say you will have to have architectrual drawings, environmental studies, a business plan, proof of financial means to complete the project, etc to get a zoning change.
Another option is to look for an empty space that was a restaurant. It is zoned, has the venting, ADA bathrooms, fire suppression systems, HVAC, water heater, etc etc , etc.
Good luck.

Answer 2

That depends on where it is. What exactly "not very good" condition is. The value of a building can vary dramatically just because of what part of town it's in. A church is an extremely difficult thing to value as it's hard to find similar properties in the area. I suggest you start by contacting the agents dealing with the sale and finding out what it's on the market for. Then if it is within your budget, BEFORE you even consider putting money on the table, get in the builders, architects, and have a word with whoever is responsible for giving out licences to restaurants to find out what you actually need to do ie extractors, sufficient toilets etc.

I'll admit I've never converted a church to a restaurant but I did convert a disused garage into a house and some of the things I found out I should have done really did surprise me. In fact in about an hour I'm going to put an extractor in the kitchen, just in case the council architect decides we need one. I'm selling the house next week and I don't want any delays. Knowing these things before hand could have saved me time and money and I could have sold the house by now.

You need to work out if this is a financially viable investment for you. How much will it cost to get the resturant up and running? how much will you make from it? Is it the right place for a resturant. Don't be afraid of taking your time finding out. There are a lot of buildings out there. Better to lose one that to rush into a bad investment.

I think you're very brave converting a church to a restaurant. That seems like a pretty big project to me. I've seen it done though, in York there is a great restaurant called Spiria Gate (I think) which was a church and in Norwich Caley's. They are both in the centre of the town and both extremely popular but mainly lunchtimes. So it can be done.

Good luck.

Answer 3

It all depends on the location. More than half of the time the buildings location is more valuable the building itself. Contact a local realtor and they can give you a good estimate.

Answer 4

walk away....bad investment, also who would really want to eat there dinner in an old run down church...and you might possibly anger people that live close to the property, not many people like seeing there old church turned into a restaurant.