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When Permit Advisors was originally approached by Simon Properties to expedite the building permit process for the phased remodel of Del Amo Fashion Center, we saw it as an amazing opportunity. Critical deadlines needed to be met to ensure that all tenants were ready for grand opening in the Fall of 2015. Our close ties to the Building Department in Torrance, CA allowed Permit Advisors to truly expedite the approval process for Building Permits, Racking Permits, Mechanical Permits, Electrical Permits, Plumbing Permits, and Environmental Health Department (LA County) approvals.

While there were concerns from both tenants and the landlord on whether we could deliver approvals for the 90+ tenants over the course of just several months – Permit Advisors took on the challenge, and exceeded any expectations set forth. We provided full-service permit expediting, including due diligence, document coordination, plan submittal/client representation, and reporting – completely managing every aspect of the building permit process for each retailer/restaurant. Our solutions-based approach to permit expediting ensured that we could foresee any issues that may arise, and provide a one-of-a-kind process within the Jurisdiction for our client(s).

Problems:

  • 80+ tenants need permits concurrently
  • Limited Time to Permit (around 120 days) from Phase 2 kick-off to Grand Opening
  • Separate permits for each trade (Building, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Racking Permits)
  • Influx of construction projects within the Jurisdiction

Solutions:

Prior to submitting for any building permits, our firm met with City Officials and Simon Properties to create a submittal process with the City of Torrance, unlike any other. We negotiated the following items, to expedite the submittal process:

  • Designated Reviewers – Permit Advisors worked hand in hand with a small, assigned group of plans examiners for each trade and architectural/structural reviews. Our experts would oversee plan review meetings for each tenant, given our extensive experience and training.

 

  • Unique Review Process – Given the City’s high volume of projects in review during the Summer of 2015, we knew that there would need to be some reconstruction of the typical review process. We were able to negotiate in-person reviews where we could meet directly with our plans examiners for extended periods of time, several days each week to review and approve plans in order to ensure quick turnarounds and on-time permits for each tenant!

 

Outcome:

Permit Advisors worked tirelessly to obtain Ready-to-Issue (RTI) status for all Building Permits in time for construction start to meet Grand Opening for all tenants! By creating a one-of-a-kind review process with the City of Torrance, we helped each project stay on track to hit target deadlines. Permit Advisors continued to work with Simon Properties to complete the final Phase of Construction, and permit new tenants such as Lemonade, Brio Bravo, and more throughout 2016.

As the landscape of the retail industry has evolved over the few last decade, with many shoppers deciding to make the transition from visiting brick and mortar stores, to shopping online, Permit Advisors has been positioned to help many of our clients with re-branding and remodeling to entice shoppers back into their physical locations. By acting as a single source for all their permitting needs, our team has successfully helped keep thousands of construction projects on track by expediting the permit process.

When working with a company such as JC Penney and their architects, you’re dealing with an already established retail leader with hundreds of locations across the United States. Permit Advisors worked as the expediter for over 600 stores, nationwide, when JC Penney made the call to remodel/refresh their existing stores. These projects included architectural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing modifications, as well as new signage and storefronts for many stores.

With strict construction schedules for each site, Permit Advisors partnered with several architects and the JC Penney construction project managers to provide a smooth permit process, coordinating with various GC’s, design teams, and engineers. We not only handled the submittal process for each location, meeting with plan checkers and utilizing the connections that we have made through other national roll-out programs, but also provided detailed due diligence, reporting, and partook in weekly conference calls to ensure each team member was up to date on permit status.

During this remodel program, Permit Advisors forged a relationship with JC Penney and their architects, which remain in place today. Our firm has expedited hundreds of shop-in-shop, remodel, and new store projects since completing the initial remodels which started kicked-off our partnership, some years ago. We are proud to be a lasting vendor, working with one of the biggest names in retail and are excited to see what the future holds for one of our favorite clients, JC Penney.