USIndoor's Official Magazine is a quarterly publication, dedicated to owners, managers, program administrators and other professionals, startups and providers involved with indoor recreational sports facilities.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/204891
years–found some land in a good, central part of town, and we bid on it." 2008 was, of course, a critical time for bidding on property. Gabe talked to a local bank. After reviewing the facility's tax returns for the previous three years, the bank recommended an FDA 504 loan, although not many had been issued. (504 loans are long-term loans on major fixed assets, like land and buildings, for economic development.) "But the economy had not affected us. We started Lil' Kickers in 2008, when the economy tanked. People were scared. I thought, if worse comes to worst, we'll lose the franchise fee. We found the one thing people did not stop investing in was their children, and that really saved us." After an initial bid, the owner of the land asked for more money, and Gabe simply gave up. He didn't know how to proceed. Little did he know that a tremendous opportunity awaited him. When it was clear the lawsuit would not end in his favor, Gabe's business mentor offered some bidding 12 advice for the other property: Pick your number, start low and, hopefully, you will not pass your number. Gabe was prepared. By this time, however, not only was the man who owned the land about to go into foreclosure, but his bank was being bought out by another bank. Eventually, Gabe's initial offer was accepted; no counter offer was necessary. Gabe worried about how much of an appeal bond the judge would set, but he knew it was important to sustain the business. He continued to save money. At about the same time he closed on the land, he agreed to a month-to-month lease that tripled the rent. Gabe hoped he wouldn't be paying it for more than six months. Until the offer was accepted, business continued as usual at the old location, except customers began to notice that the facility was not being maintained. Management and staff could not, however, tell customers anything about the lawsuit, and investing more in the facility did not make sense in light of the lawsuit and possible relocation. "We were on edge from fall of 2010 until spring of 2011." With the lawsuit over and the new facility under construction, International Indoor notified its customers that the business would be relocating. In response, the building owners advertised that the facility would, nonetheless, remain open under their management. Gabe emailed all his customers explaining the situation as he saw it. He essentially told them the new building owners had sued him to smoke them out and take over his business. When International Indoor lost the lawsuit, the new building was nowhere near ready; they hadn't even closed on the land. They chose to appeal the case, hoping the process would give them enough time to build the new facility.