1 flr commercial in condo

A bookstore is a much nicer neighbor than a Kentucky Fried Chicken. There's a new building on Central Park North, very expensive, that is now facing the possibility of a McDonald's on the ground floor. That really adds to the glamour & allure of your million dollar pad.

Assuming you can find a tenant for the commercial space in a new development. If you can't find a tenant do the condo owners have to pay higher common charges until the space is occupied?

No. The owner of the commercial unit is responsible for its CCs.

Having commercial/retail/restaurant space on the lower floors is actually essential for city living. It's a good thing. I can understand how you'd prefer some kinds of retailers over others, but in my opinion even a KFC would be better than having nothing at all on the first floor (assuming your only choices were KFC or nothing at all).

Read your Jane Jacobs. As she showed, mixed-use architecture that encourages eyes on the street and foot traffic at different hours is good for a building and a neighborhood and in particular reduces the costs of security.

thanks, i was concerned about what happens if they don't find a tenant, who pays the common charge. also i notice in lic there are numerous condo's with empty commercial space on the 1 flr. if the problem is the high price,how does this effect the condo when they eventually lower the price of the commercial?

Having a commercial tenant only helps with the finances of the overall building, so in general its a good thing. Who bears the burden of the common charge share associated with the commercial space depends on who owns that condo; for many of these buildings that have bought condos and rental units, it is usually the sponsor.

The major con really depend on who the tenant is. Issues to consider with a potential tenant are noise, street traffic, garbage (restaurants or grocery stores), pest control. The offering plan should outline what business can occupy the space.

Freezer, the offering plan would tell you for sure. I guess it's possible that the condominium association could own the commercial space, but I think usually it is the sponsor as condojake says.

I'd go a bit further and say the sponsor almost always keeps the commercial unit. If there's a garage unit, they keep that too and do a long-term lease with an operator.

If the sponsor isn't able to rent out the space, as is the case with a lot of the Riverside South retail, they hope to offset that CC-and-taxes drain with any surplus they get from renting out the unsold residential units and paying their CCs and taxes. How that all works out these days, I dunno.