It humbles me to have to make this post. After almost 2 months of
negotiations and planning along with $1000+ of accountant and legal fees my
new business venture has collapsed very quickly. One of the final details
that had come up before the closing was some questions about the
construction of the large class room in the lower level of the studio. It
seems that it had been rehabbed 6 years ago but never received an official
CO (certificate of occupancy). This is formal approval by the town/city that
all specs were up to code. Before the landlord would rewrite a new lease in
my name he insisted that this finally be done (he should have done this 6
years ago!) Well this morning we had to bring an architect/contractor in to
see what would have to be done to get this accomplished. His
answer..complete demolition.nothing was built to code! We are talking 10's
of thousands of dollars. Surely not my responsibility and the current owner
is flat broke. This is why he was selling out. He needed cash. Bottom line:
no deal, end of story. Thank God I made sure I had a lawyer and an
accountant working for me. The seller and I were getting along great. He was
staying on to teach and possibly do some gigging with me. In years past I
may have made the deal on faith, trust and "good feelings". If I had done
that this time I would have taken a major financial bath! Moral of story:
business is business, keep emotions out and hire the experts. I much prefer
a thousand dollar shower than a $60,000 bath.
I am working on plan "B" as we speak. I may try to start something from scratch. I hate the thought of "reading the help wanted blues"
Warren Bee Sad
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