Riedel Communities

County building regulations and federal flood plain designations were more relaxed and less stringent when older commercial buildings were originally constructed.  Although they are typically grand fathered from today’s more stringent regulations, that protection can be lost if the owner either by choice or by necessity makes significant improvements or updates to the building.  In such cases, the owner can be faced with making substantial and very costly improvements to the building in order to bring the building up to today’s more stringent standards.

When FEMA changed its flood plain maps in September of ’09, many owners found their properties in flood plains that prior to the change were not located in a flood plain.  Like the building regulations, those properties are grandfathered until the owner by choice or by necessity makes substantial improvements to the building.  In such cases, should the foundation of that building be determined to lie below the base flood plain elevation, BFE, the owner risks having to raise the entire building above that elevation, essentially tearing it down and rebuilding.

In many cases, the cost of bringing an old building up to today’s standards can exceed the value of the building.  The owner must then decide whether to it is more prudent to upgrade the old building or tear it down and rebuild.  The point is to be aware of the potential pitfalls of regulatory depreciation of older commercial properties due to increasingly more stringent building standards and expanding flood plain designated areas.