April 16: Permits have been ready for a few weeks. Landlord advises construction begins Monday. Expected time to completion, 3-4 weeks.
April 20: Landlord advises they were unable to begin construction due to a table with granite and tile on top of it on the right side of the room. Physical capabilities of all employees of selected contractor now viewed with utmost skepticism. Sheer laziness suspected culprit.
April 28: Met with my contractor, which shall heretofore be referred to as “Good Contractor” as opposed to “Evil Contractor,” which shall heretofore refer to Landlord’s contractor, at the site. Construction has commenced and seems to be moving along. Neither permits or plans are posted on site as required by City. Competence, in addition to physical capabilities of “Evil Contractor” now viewed with increasing skepticism.
April 29: Email battle ensues. I advise Landlord that appropriate permits and drawings are not displayed and the situation must be remedied. Compliance with the City Government takes backstage to movement of granite and tile.
May 3: In response to countless emails regarding lack of permits, landlord concludes with essentially “none of your business.” Reporting status: work will be complete in less than two weeks; imperative that all tile is removed since “final cleaning” is imminent.
May 10: “Good Contractor” procures our final building permit and confirms with the City that the permits for Landlord’s work have not been obtained.
May 11: In response to being advised that the City reports permits are not in place for the current construction, Landlord replies “you must move the stone.”
May 17: Boyfriend and I proceed to move ~700 lbs of granite and tile from one side of a wall to the other. The stone is stacked on a table in the center of the room, far removed from any of the construction. How its presence impedes the construction workers in any way is beyond baffling. Plans to use heavy duty equipment cart to move stone thwarted, as cart is no longer present on site.
May 19: Landlord confronted about stolen equipment. Response: “We are not responsible for any missing equipment.”
May 24: Final response from Landlord regarding failure to comply with City permitting regulations. Conclusion: they do not care, must stay out of it. See below:

Lucrece,
If you would please refrain from taking any further action until the space is turned over to you. We are handling our construction and everything will be fine if you let us handle it, getting the City involved and raising all of these questions with them will only delay the process. You should not have pulled any permits on the space until it was turned over to you. Our goal is to be out of your space and turn it over to you by next Friday, given there are no other obstacles or problems. Thanks.
Natalie Klein
Spire Realty Group, L.P.

Apparently getting the City involved in construction will “only delay the process.” I wish I’d known this magical way to build without getting the City involved – we would have been open a year ago.
June 6: Delays “beyond” Landlord’s control. Meeting with “Evil Contractor” pushed back several days. All work appears to be done.
June 10: Landlord “understands” where I am coming from and apologizes. Reality: Landlord does not understand the difference between the outside world and the inside of the paper bag they have been unable to find their way out of.
June 25: “Evil Contractor” has scheduled final inspection with the City for the week of July 5. Apparently it was finally time to get the City involved. Wondering what kind of delays such a terrible thing shall cause.
As Landlord’s work has concluded and only awaits inspection, I request permission to begin equipment delivery and work on my side of the space. Any work done will not inconvenience Landlord in any way. Response: “You do not yet have possession of the space under the terms of the lease.” Nicely done. Wondering if the lawyers in Dallas had to be consulted for that one.

Report conclusion: Dear “Evil Contractor,” Landlord (Spire Realty), Dallas and Houston offices et. al: You gotta get out of this place, if it’s the last thing you ever do; there’s a better life for me and you.

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