Retail & Mixed-Use
Retail MEP is a negotiation between the landlord's shell and every tenant fit-out you haven't signed yet. Under the direction and seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project, we prepare construction-ready documents that fix the scope split, reserve utilities and shafts so leasing moves faster, and include tenant criteria packages a tenant's engineer can design from.
Shell Today, Planned Tenant Uses Tomorrow.
A retail shell is a bet on tenants you can't name yet — a restaurant that needs a grease shaft, a nail salon that needs source-capture exhaust, a grocer that needs refrigeration heat rejection. We reserve the capacity, shafts, and utility stubs each likely use needs, document the landlord/tenant scope split so it is clear at lease-up, and write criteria packages tenants build from — coordinated with your team and sealed by the licensed engineer of record on your project.
HVAC & Tenant Criteria
Shell systems and criteria packages built for whoever signs the lease.
- RTU zoning and shell ventilation allowances sized for variable retail occupancy per ASHRAE 62.1
- Tenant HVAC criteria packages defining available tonnage, capacity, and connection points
- Kitchen-ready grease-duct shafts and Type I exhaust routing reserved in the shell per the IMC and NFPA 96
- Source-capture exhaust for nail-salon tenants — 50 cfm per manicure table or pedicure station per IMC Table 403.3.1.1 (note h) and Section 502.20, with the base salon ventilation rate from the same table
- Animal-area exhaust and odor control for pet tenants
- Make-up air pathways reserved to help keep a future food tenant from depressurizing the center
Electrical & Metering
Tenant power, separate metering, and the signage that drives the lease.
- Per-suite load allocation with diversity, sized to the leasing mix
- CT-metering or separate utility metering for tenant cost recovery from day one
- Sales-floor and display lighting to IES retail illuminance, with lighting controls per the adopted energy code (IECC C405.2 / ASHRAE 90.1 §9.4.1) and emergency egress-lighting circuits per NEC Article 700
- Pylon, blade, and storefront signage circuits
- Site, parking, and canopy lighting
- EV-charging infrastructure and service-capacity coordination with the utility
Plumbing & Fire-Protection Coordination
Per-suite capacity and shared systems mapped before the first lease.
- Tenant water, sanitary, and gas stub-outs with capacity mapped per suite
- Shared grease-interceptor sizing per the local sewer authority
- Fixture counts by occupancy and accessible-fixture provisions per the IPC/UPC
- Roof and storm drainage with secondary/overflow design
- Shell and tenant fire-sprinkler coordination with the fire-protection engineer, per NFPA 13
- Backflow prevention and RPZ assemblies where required
Grocery & Refrigeration Anchors
The refrigeration loads and heat rejection a supermarket anchor lives on.
- Refrigeration rack and condenser heat-rejection coordination with the vendor package
- Machinery-room ventilation and leak detection per ASHRAE 15 and 34
- Heat-reclaim integration for space and domestic hot water
- Case-line power, controls, and condensate routing
- Slab, drainage, and utility coordination under the racking layout
Landlord / Tenant Scope
Each demising line defined to clarify scope at lease-up.
- Landlord-vs-tenant scope matrix documented to the lease work letter
- Utility allocations and stub-outs mapped per suite for fast tenant starts
- Cold-dark, warm, and vanilla shell scope defined to match the leasing strategy
- Tenant design criteria published to reduce tenant redesign
- Demising-wall MEP, metering, and life-safety provisions reconciled at the line
A Typical Shell-to-Tenant Split
| System | Shell provides | Tenant's engineer designs | Confirm before design |
|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC capacity | Available tonnage, connection points, and the shell ventilation allowance in the criteria package | Suite HVAC against the published criteria | Tonnage vs. actual use |
| Power & metering | Per-suite load allocation with CT or separate utility metering | Suite distribution from the allocation | Load vs. allocation |
| Grease shaft & Type I exhaust | Reserved grease-duct shaft and make-up-air pathway in kitchen-ready shells | Hood and grease duct from the suite through the reserved shaft to termination | Shaft size and route |
| Salon & pet exhaust | Reserved exhaust paths and make-up air | Source capture at 50 cfm per station, or animal-area exhaust | Station count |
| Water, sanitary, gas & grease | Stub-outs mapped per suite; shared interceptor sized to the local sewer authority | Suite plumbing and gas from the stub-outs | Fixture and gas load |
The lease work letter governs; this is the split we document against it.
Yes — it's the backbone of a clean retail set. We produce a landlord-vs-tenant scope matrix tied to the lease work letter, which clarifies scope at the demising line, plus per-suite utility allocations and stub-outs. That helps reduce disputes when a tenant's contractor mobilizes and supports faster openings, all behind the seal of the licensed engineer of record on your project.
Yes. We reserve Type I kitchen-exhaust and grease-duct shafts and make-up-air pathways in the shell per the IMC and NFPA 96, plus gas and grease-waste capacity, to support future restaurant or QSR fit-outs within the documented shell capacities and routes. We size the shell allowance to the leasing strategy you're targeting.
That's the goal. We publish tenant HVAC and utility criteria — available tonnage, electrical capacity, stub-out locations, and connection points — so the tenant's engineer can design against a documented basis instead of guessing at what the shell provides. It keeps tenant coordination clean and protects the shell decisions behind your seal.
Yes. Nail-salon tenants need source-capture exhaust at 50 cfm per manicure table or pedicure station per IMC Table 403.3.1.1 (note h) and Section 502.20, running continuously while the space is occupied (IMC 502.20.1), with the inlet within 12 inches of the chemical-application point and discharge located to code; the salon's base ventilation rate comes from IMC Table 403.3.1.1, and where source capture runs continuously during occupancy, its exhaust can be credited toward the exhaust rate the table requires. Pet tenants need dedicated animal-area exhaust and odor control. We reserve the exhaust paths and make-up air in the shell to help keep these uses from depressurizing neighboring suites or pushing odor into the common area.