08/31/2026
The broker had the LOI in his hand and one question:
"How fast can you get us a permit?"
Thirty-two hundred square feet of 1980s strip center, nail salon going to a full-service kitchen. Construction budget $410,000.
Nobody in the room had said the word "flood."
I asked what the county had the structure valued at. He didn't know - it was the owner's file, not his.
We pulled it that afternoon. Improvement value on the building, not the land: about $760,000. Four hundred ten against seven sixty is 54%.
In Houston, crossing 50% makes it a substantial improvement under Chapter 19. That is no longer a restaurant permit. That is the whole building brought up to current floodplain standard - finished floor two feet above the 500-year elevation, an Elevation Certificate, and a set that answers to a different reviewer.
The ratio decides the project before the drawings do.
If you're looking at a second-gen restaurant conversion right now - do you know the building's improvement value, or only the rent?
Field notes from Texas permit desks: https://Inkd.in/ gAqQbGdU