A retail building works when the lease, the site and the prototype agree before design starts. An architect's job on a retail project is to find where they disagree, and settle it on paper while it is still cheap.
Temelar designs ground-up pads, strip and neighborhood centers, in-line and end-cap suites, and restaurant build-outs across Greater Houston and Texas. Structural and MEP engineering sit under our one contract, so the rooftop unit, the hood fan and the grease line are coordinated by the same team that drew the storefront.
We do not build. The general contractor is yours or the landlord's, and that separation keeps our review of the work honest.
Key takeaways
- Retail design starts with documents, not sketches: the lease, the landlord's tenant criteria manual, the shopping center's recorded easements and, for franchises, the brand prototype.
- A franchise prototype is a starting point, not a permit set; it has to be adapted to the actual site, the local code, Texas energy and wind requirements, and sealed by an architect licensed in Texas.
- On a drive-through pad, the stacking lane usually sets the building's position on the site, and the building follows the cars rather than the other way around.
- Restaurants add three things a dry retail suite does not have: a grease interceptor, a hood exhaust and make-up air system, and a separate health department plan review.
- Signs are almost always permitted separately from the building, and landlord sign criteria can be stricter than the city's own rules.
- Retail projects costing $50,000 or more in covered buildings must be registered with TDLR and reviewed and inspected for Texas Accessibility Standards compliance.
- Typical size
- 3–25k SF
- Design to permit
- 3–5 mo
- Review tracks
- Up to 4
- TDLR trigger
- $50k+
What kinds of retail buildings does Temelar design?
Retail is not one building type. It is a family of formats that share a customer-facing storefront and differ on almost everything else: who owns the dirt, who controls the parking, and how much of the building the tenant actually gets to shape.
Pad site
A freestanding building on an outparcel at the edge of a center, usually facing the street with its own drive-through or parking.
Strip center
A single-story row of suites sharing one roof, one parking field and one set of landlord rules.
In-line suite
A space between two neighbors, with storefront on one side and a service door on the other.
End cap
The suite at the end of a strip, prized for its extra side wall of glass, signage and often a drive-through.
Freestanding store
A single-tenant building on its own lot, with the owner controlling site, signage and access.
Mixed-use ground floor
Retail under apartments or offices, where venting, grease and noise have to pass through someone else's floors.
Frontage, depth and visibility
A retail suite is sold by its frontage. The width of glass facing the parking lot decides what a customer sees from a moving car, and depth decides what the tenant can fit behind it. Neighborhood strip suites commonly run somewhere around 20 to 30 feet wide and 50 to 80 feet deep, though every center is different.
A narrow, deep suite suits a quick-service counter with a kitchen at the back. A wide, shallow one suits a showroom that wants a bright sales floor. When a prototype expects a ratio the space does not have, we test-fit early, because a kitchen line that does not fit is not fixed by finish selections.
Retail on a mixed-use ground floor
Ground-floor retail under apartments or offices brings its own constraints. A restaurant exhaust duct may have to rise through the floors above, the grease line has to reach an interceptor, and sound and odor separation becomes part of the design. All of it is solvable when planned and expensive when discovered after the shell is built. Our multifamily page covers the rest of that building type.
How do landlord criteria shape a retail design?
Every shopping center of any size has a tenant criteria manual, sometimes called a tenant design guide or tenant handbook. It is the landlord's rulebook for what a tenant may do to the space and the building, and it is binding once the lease references it.
Criteria manuals typically govern storefront systems and colors, sign types and sizes, where rooftop equipment may sit and how it is screened, which roofers may penetrate the roof, how utilities are metered, where trash goes, and what hours construction can happen. Some centers also restrict uses outright through exclusives and prohibited-use lists recorded against the property. A tenant who designs first and reads the manual second will redraw.
| Issue | Common pathCriteria read after signing | Better pathCriteria fixed before the LOI |
|---|---|---|
| Tenant criteria | Discovered when the landlord reviews drawings. | Reviewed with the test fit, before terms are agreed. |
| Signage | Sign size cut back at landlord approval. | Sign location and size confirmed in the letter of intent. |
| Grease and venting | No interceptor or exhaust route on site. | Interceptor and roof route written into landlord work. |
| Shell condition | Assumed from the marketing flyer. | Verified by site visit and existing drawings. |
| Rent start | Rent begins while the permit is still in review. | Free-rent period sized to the real permit path. |
“The cheapest lease to fix
is the one you have not signed.”
Landlord work versus tenant work
The line between what the landlord delivers and what the tenant builds is written into the lease, usually in a work letter or exhibit. "Shell" means different things in different centers. A cold dark shell may be little more than walls, roof and a slab, sometimes with the slab left out at the back for plumbing. A warm or vanilla shell usually adds a finished demising wall, a restroom, lighting, an HVAC unit and a working electrical panel.
We read that exhibit before design starts and compare it to what the tenant's use needs. If the shell brings a small HVAC unit and the tenant needs a kitchen, the gap belongs in the negotiation, not the change order log. For the interior side of the work, see tenant improvement.
How is a franchise prototype adapted to a Texas site?
Most national and regional brands arrive with a prototype: a standard plan, standard elevations and a book of finishes and equipment. The prototype is written for a generic site and usually a generic model code. It is not a permit set until an architect licensed in Texas adapts it, seals it and takes responsibility for it. That work is called site adaptation.
- 01
Brand prototype
standard plan set
- 02
Site survey
boundary, utilities, grade
- 03
Code review
local amendments, energy
- 04
Site adapt
flip, rotate, regrade
- 05
Sealed permit set
Texas-licensed architect
What changes in a site adapt
- Orientation. The plan may be flipped or rotated so the drive-through runs the right direction and the storefront faces the street.
- Foundation. The Houston region's clay soils move with moisture, so the slab design follows the site's geotechnical report, not the prototype's default.
- Wind and envelope. Design wind speeds along the Gulf Coast are higher than many prototypes assume, which affects roof attachment, canopies and storefront glazing.
- Energy code. The adopted energy code and local amendments govern insulation, glazing and lighting, and compliance is part of the permit set.
- Local rules. Setbacks, landscaping, screening and parking are set by the jurisdiction, and they vary from one side of a city limit line to the other.
Brands differ in how much deviation they accept. Some approve a flipped plan in a day; others need their own design review for any change to the elevations. We ask for the brand's variance process at the start, not when the city asks for a change.
How should a drive-through be laid out on a retail pad?
A drive-through is a small traffic engineering problem wrapped around a building. The diagram below shows a typical quick-service pad: the building near the street, a drive-through lane wrapping it with cars stacked back from the menu board, a pickup window on the driver's side, a bypass lane beside the stack, a parking field, a monument or pylon sign at the street, and a trash and grease enclosure at the back of the lot.
In the United States the driver sits on the left, so the window has to be on the driver's left. That means the lane almost always circulates counterclockwise around the building, and it is the first reason a prototype gets flipped.
Stacking lanes
The stacking lane is the queue of cars waiting to order and pay. Many jurisdictions set a minimum number of stacking spaces for a drive-through, and brands often want more than the code minimum at busy locations. The rule we design to is simple: the queue must never back up into the street or block the center's main drive aisle.
Menu board, order point and window
The menu board sits back from the window so that ordering, paying and picking up happen in sequence without cars stopping each other. A pre-menu board is common further back in the lane. Canopies, speaker posts, clearance bars and height limits for the lane all go on the site plan, not left for the sign vendor.
Bypass lane and traffic flow
A bypass lane lets a driver leave the queue, and it lets everyone else reach parking without waiting in line. Pedestrians crossing the drive-through lane from parking to the front door are the conflict we work hardest to reduce. The best pads keep that crossing to one short, clearly marked point, or avoid it entirely.
On a drive-through pad, the stack sets the site plan. The building is placed where the queue fits, and everything else fills in around it.
What does a restaurant in a retail center need?
Restaurants are the most demanding tenants in retail. They need more power, gas, water, air and waste handling than any dry retail use, plus a separate health department approval. In a space never planned for one, those systems have to be found or created.
- 01Roofexhaust fan, make-up air unit
- 02Ceilinggrease duct in rated enclosure
- 03Kitchenhood with fire suppression
- 04Floorfloor sinks, grease waste line
- 05Sitegrease interceptor, cleanout access
Grease interceptors
Kitchen waste carrying fats, oils and grease has to pass through a grease interceptor before reaching the public sewer. The plumbing code and the local utility decide the size and type, and many utilities also regulate pumping and maintenance. The interceptor is usually buried outside, which means it touches the landlord's site, the parking lot and sometimes the center's recorded easements.
Hood exhaust and make-up air
Cooking that produces grease-laden vapor needs a Type I hood with a fire suppression system, a grease duct in a fire-rated enclosure, and an exhaust fan on the roof. Every cubic foot of air the hood pulls out has to be replaced, so a make-up air unit goes on the roof too. That equipment is heavy, so the roof structure has to be checked for it, and the landlord's criteria decide where it can sit and how it is screened.
Health department plan review
Food service plans go to the city or county health department for review before the permit or before opening, depending on the jurisdiction. The reviewer looks at sinks, finishes, equipment, food storage and the flow from receiving to service. We coordinate the equipment plan with the kitchen designer or brand so the health set and the building set show the same kitchen.
Outdoor seating
A patio adds seats, and seats add occupant load, which can change plumbing fixture counts, parking and sometimes the occupancy classification. Patios also need an accessible route, lighting and often the landlord's approval. For hotels and conference space, see hospitality.
- Existing grease interceptor, or space to install one
- A clear route for the exhaust duct to the roof
- Roof structure that can carry the hood fan and make-up air unit
- Gas service and meter location
- Electrical capacity for kitchen equipment
- Water service size for the fixture count
- Landlord approval for a patio
- Exhaust location away from neighbors' intakes
Parking, access, platting, signage and accessibility for retail
The building is often the easy part of a retail project. The site decides whether it works: how cars get in, where they park, where the water goes, and what the city will let the sign say.
Parking and cross-access
Parking counts are set by the jurisdiction, and in a center they are also shared under a reciprocal easement agreement. That recorded document typically governs shared parking, cross-access drives, building envelopes and sometimes use restrictions. A pad that relies on a neighbor's drive for access needs that right in writing before the site plan is final.
Platting and detention
Cutting a pad out of a larger tract often means platting or replatting before a building permit will issue. In Houston, Chapter 42 governs lots and setbacks even without conventional zoning, and deed restrictions can still limit use. Sugar Land, Katy, Pearland and many other surrounding cities have zoning of their own. Stormwater detention is required for new impervious cover; some centers were built with shared detention that covers their pads, and others leave each pad to provide its own.
Signage
Signs are permitted separately from the building, usually by the sign fabricator. The monument or pylon at the street has its own permit, its own foundation and often a limited number of tenant panels controlled by the landlord. Wall signs must satisfy both the city's sign rules and the landlord's criteria, and the stricter of the two wins. We show sign locations, blocking and power on the building drawings so the sign permit follows without surprises.
Accessibility, occupancy and fire
Texas projects with an estimated construction cost of $50,000 or more in covered buildings must be registered with TDLR and reviewed and inspected by a Registered Accessibility Specialist under the Texas Accessibility Standards. That covers the accessible route from parking and the public sidewalk, entrances, counters, restrooms and patios. Our article on TDLR accessibility review walks through it.
Most retail is classified as Group M, mercantile. A restaurant with an occupant load of 50 or more is generally Group A-2, assembly, while a smaller one is often treated as Group B. That classification drives exits, fire separations and whether sprinklers are required, and the fire marshal reviews those systems alongside the building.
How long does a retail project take, and what delays it?
Most retail projects we see take roughly three to five months from design start to permit, depending on the jurisdiction, the number of review tracks and how fast decisions come back from the landlord and the brand.
- 012–3 weeks
Due diligence & criteria review
Lease, criteria manual, survey and prototype gathered and read.
- 023–5 weeks
Test fit & schematic design
Plan, site layout and landlord or brand approval.
- 034–7 weeks
Construction documents
Architecture, structure and MEP coordinated as one set.
- 043–6 weeks
Permit, health & landlord review
City plan review, health department and final landlord sign-off.
Planning ranges, not a project quote. Timing varies with owner decisions, project complexity, and jurisdiction workload.
Common delays
- Landlord review that happens after the drawings are done instead of alongside them.
- A missing or undersized grease interceptor found after the lease is signed.
- No approved route for exhaust through the roof or a floor above.
- A pad that turns out to need platting or its own detention.
- Brand review of site-adapt changes running in series with city review.
- Utility capacity, especially electrical service and gas, confirmed too late.
Before the LOI
A lease term.
Little cost.
At plan review
A comment letter.
Weeks of rent.
At inspection
Work torn out.
A late opening.
Retail rent often starts on a fixed date whether or not the store is open. That is why we build the review path into the schedule before design begins, and why we coordinate the engineers inside our own contract, as explained in one contract, not four. Full scope sits on the architecture page.
Frequently asked questions
Most commercial retail build-outs need sealed drawings for the building permit, and restaurants almost always do because of the mechanical, plumbing and fire systems involved. The landlord will usually require drawings for its own review as well. An architect also coordinates the TDLR accessibility registration when the project reaches the $50,000 threshold.
A tenant criteria manual is the landlord's rulebook for what tenants may build in a shopping center. It covers storefronts, signage, rooftop equipment, roof penetrations, utilities, trash and construction rules. Once the lease references it, the tenant's design must comply, so it should be read before the letter of intent is signed.
Rarely. A prototype has to be adapted to the actual site, the local code and amendments, the energy code, regional wind loads and the site's soil conditions. The adapted set must be sealed by an architect licensed in Texas before a permit will issue.
It depends on the jurisdiction's minimum and the brand's own standard, which is often higher at busy locations. The practical test is that the queue must never spill into the street or block the center's main drive aisle. We size the stack first and place the building around it.
A restaurant that produces grease-laden waste generally needs a grease interceptor before its waste reaches the public sewer. The size and type are set by the plumbing code and the local utility. If the center does not already have one serving the suite, installing it involves the landlord's site and should be settled before the lease is signed.
Usually not. Signs are permitted separately, typically by the sign fabricator, and must meet both the city's sign rules and the landlord's sign criteria. We show sign locations, backing and power on the building drawings so the sign permit can follow quickly.
A typical retail project takes roughly three to five months from design start to permit, though it varies by project and jurisdiction. Restaurants add health department review, and ground-up pads can add platting and detention. Construction time comes after that and depends on the contractor.
Bring the lease, the site and the prototype
If you are weighing a pad or a suite right now, send the lease draft or LOI, the criteria manual and the prototype through the contact page. We will tell you what the documents allow and where they conflict. If the site itself is still in question, start with feasibility, or browse the other sectors we design for.
