I’m not a lawyer, but did spend decades in commercial real estate. Best advice:
1) Your friend should read her Lease until she understands every word in it. Does it even allow her to have seating? 2) Often Leases have an Exhibit — typically Exhibit C — that deals with construction issues. It is very likely that the Lease makes the tenant responsible for all interior improvements needed for her business operation. These are called Tenant Improvements for a reason. If by some miracle, the Lease requires the Landlord to provide a restroom, she might be able to push them into upgrading it to HC Assessible, since she can’t operate without it.
3) If it doesn’t, she might be able to beg the LL for help, especially if the strip center has lots of vacant space. Possibly they would agree to handle the HC restroom in exchange for additional rent over time. They would be more likely to do that if the new restroom made the premises more leasable in the future.
4) Research local zoning codes and health department regulations. Nowadays these documents are online in most jurisdictions. She can also go to the counters at City Hall (or whatever in your area) and ask for help. Don’t act like a complaining maniac challenging their right to make you accommodate the handicapped. Asking for help strokes their ego and forces them to be part of a solution. Find out if there are any assistance programs for Minority Owned Businesses (women are considered minorities even though they are in the majority).
5) Normally the type and number of restrooms, and even the fixtures, required is based on set in stone formulas, for different use types (in her case, restaurant) and occupant loads. For her this will probably be the number of seats divided by some constant, plus the number of employees. For a small shop, if these factors indicate only one restroom, it has to be HC accessible. Sharing restrooms with neighboring businesses is a non-starter.
6) If her premises was permitted for a restaurant use with the same number of seats in the past, and she spent very little on improvements before opening, it might be possible to argue a “hardship”. If she spent say, $1,000 on painting and floor covering, it is not reasonable to tag someone for $10,000 in restroom improvements.
Thank you for your detailed post. I get the feeling she’s not up for challenging the landlord. It’s just her personality. Yeah, I know, it’s not what you want in a business owner.
And the space she’s renting now was not a restaurant in the past.
Bu your suggestion about her looking into assistance programs for minority-owned businesses is very helpful. I will mention that to her.
To put it short and sweet, “Go by the written.” Thanks for an excellent post.