The good and the bad

So we have some good news and some bad news related to opening Jon's tattoo shop. First the good news: all five departments in the building division of the city of Denver have approved the plan drafted for the shop. The city is requiring a few updates, mostly because the building is 100 years old and hasn't been updated at ALL in at least 40 years. Like...oh, the electrical system has to be updated. And they have to install a firebreak in the attic. (Right now there is nothing but open space in the attic of the entire building, which covers 7 or 8 different stores, including a greasy spoon diner. If there was a fire it would basically engulf the entire building, which is the entire block. I can NOT believe the landlord hasn't updated this already. It is a major safety hazard. Ugh.) These are changes the landlord will have to make now or in the future, anytime anyone in the building pulls a permit to update anything. The electrical and fire situation are egregiously out-of-date.

Now the bad news: OK, so some of that was the bad news, but the real bad news is that the landlord has his knickers in a twist about paying for the necessary changes. He has it in his mind that this is Jon's fault, that the changes wouldn't be necessary if a stationary store or comic book shop was going into the space, and that he should just kick Jon out. Um, no. And everyone (Jon, the architect, the landlord's son who has kind of become the go-between) is telling him so. But he's old and angry and, like I said, has his knickers in a twist. The cost to bring the storefront up to code and make it rentable is high. I won't say he doesn't have a right to be upset about all this. But his anger is directed toward the wrong person. Instead of saying it is Jon's fault, he should look in a mirror and curse himself for not having updated a single damn thing in the entire building since the day he bought it. There is a gross, greasy spoon diner in his building, for crying out loud! And he never updated the fire safety?! He is running on borrowed time, as far as I am concerned. He is just lucky there hasn't been a problem so far.

So he is considering whether or not he wants to make the changes necessary to rent it at all. He will decide in a couple of days. Oh, but what's that? Don't we have a lease stating that he is required to make any changes necessary? Why yes we do! And Jon has already put in a significant investment to get this place going. So if Grumpy McSlackerpants decides he does NOT want to make any changes, and he does not want to bring his buiding up to code, then he will have to break the lease and reimburse Jon for every expense. Obviously we do not want to go down this path. There could be lawyers involved. Nobody wants that. Jon thinks it is unlikely he will go this route. But the landlord is throwing it out there, probably to scare everyone. The more likely scenario (although who knows with this guy) is that he will agree to make the changes, but will try to do it on the cheap, putting out new bids to electricians and contractors, and delaying everything even more. Grr. Argh.

The landlord's son is totally on Jon's side. He knows that all these changes will have to be made no matter who rents this storefront, and will have to be made in the future anytime any change is made to the building. He is kind of like the landlord's business manager, so it is good he is in the mix. And he has even said that they can afford these changes, it's just that his dad is, um, miserly and doesn't want to make them.

So good and bad. Good that the plan is approved and they can move forward as soon as they get the money. Bad that the money might be delayed and/or non-existent.