Retail space falls under Mercantile Group M occupancy in the Florida Building Code, and almost every project in this category is “second generation” space — a vanilla shell or a previous tenant’s built-out store — rather than raw ground-up construction. That distinction changes both the code path and the schedule, since existing restrooms, HVAC, and storefront glazing may be reusable, or may need to be demoed to bare shell depending on condition and use change.

Whether it’s a strip center storefront along US-1, a boutique near a Lincoln Road-adjacent retail corridor, or an anchor space in a Palm Beach mall, retail renovation runs on two tracks that have to close together: the local building department’s permit, and the landlord’s own Tenant Design Criteria manual governing storefront depth, signage, flooring transitions, and HVAC allocation. Miss either one and the store doesn’t open on schedule, regardless of which one was actually finished first.

Retail also carries more public-facing scrutiny per square foot than most other commercial categories on this list — a small footprint packed with customers, fitting rooms, checkout counters, and a storefront entrance means accessibility and egress get checked closely relative to the size of the space.

Most retail landlords issue a Tenant Design Criteria manual dictating storefront depth, sign band placement and letter height, flooring transition details at the lease line, and the tenant’s allocated HVAC tonnage — none of which is optional even if the county permit would otherwise allow more flexibility. Elbaz coordinates submittals with the landlord’s architect on the same timeline as the county permit application so neither approval becomes the bottleneck holding back the other.

A second-generation space inherits the previous tenant’s restrooms, HVAC distribution, and often storefront glazing, which can meaningfully cut both cost and schedule if that infrastructure matches the new use and code requirements haven’t changed since it was installed. A vanilla shell, by contrast, has bare concrete, stubbed utilities, and no interior partitions — everything gets built from scratch, and utility capacity (electrical service size, HVAC tonnage) has to be verified against the new tenant’s actual equipment load before design finalizes.