ABSTRACT
The most successful national retailers dictate their own site-selection standards, and everyone in the industry knows them. Expressed in terms of variables such as building footprint size, parking availability, and volume of existing traffic flow, these standards influence a company’s decisions about whether and when to open a store in a new location. After a site-selection decision is made, pre-development activity follows in a more or less linear progression: property is acquired or optioned; zoning, infrastructure, and permitting issues are addressed through interaction with one or more units of government; planning and design work is completed; construction financing is obtained; permits are approved; agreements are executed; and construction begins.
