Mixed-use buildings offer a little of everything – and that’s a boon for both investors and the community. For developers looking to expand their portfolio, investing in a mixed-use property offers nearly off-the-shelf diversification. For the community of Coral Gables, it can become a space that supports all facets of life – living, working, and playing.

As you consider building or renovating a mixed-use property in South Florida, you’ll need to account for all the ways you or your tenants plan to use the space, as constructing mixed-use properties is different from constructing single-use spaces. Below are some areas to prioritize.

What to Know as You Plan a Mixed-use Development

Mixed-use properties require careful planning and construction to ensure compliance with building codes and life safety standards. For example, code requirements for restaurants differ from those for office and residential, and in a mixed-use property, your needs will touch a little of everything.

Here are a few ways our team at Seacoast Construction designs and builds multi-purpose commercial properties to offer flexibility with occupancy while still ensuring compliance with building code and life safety requirements in Coral Gables:

• First, evaluate occupancy goals – If the building is designed as mixed-use, we first must identify how the building will most likely be used. Generally, restaurants are on the ground floor, office or commercial spaces are on the second floor, and residential units are above them. If an existing building is set up differently, adjustments would have to be made during the design phase to comply with code requirements.

• Next, understand code requirements for each occupancy type – Each space within a mixed-use property must meet certain criteria for that occupancy (e.g., restaurant vs. residential vs. office). Multi-purpose codes generally allow you the flexibility to meander through each occupancy as long as there are ratings that meet the code requirements. That said, the criteria will depend on the building’s square footage, occupancy and other factors. The purpose of these requirements is to separate one occupancy from the other and to create an encapsulated area so if a fire were to break out in one area, it would remain contained as best as possible.

If you’re planning a mixed-use commercial development project in Coral Gables, get in touch with our team at Seacoast Construction. There are many challenges with building mixed-use commercial properties, but the important part is to partner with a general contractor who understands – and can ultimately plan for – the myriad life safety and building code standards required by each occupancy type. And for that, we are here to help.