Here is the email from Cheer Tyme:
Dear Cheer Tyme Chantilly Customers,
In full disclosure, we feel the need to update you all on an ongoing situation with the county of Fairfax, and our landlord, for the Sullyfield Circle location. This is a situation we have been dealing with since 2013.
Cheer Tyme leased the property from JDRP Properties, c/o PLC Peter Lawrence of Virginia, in May 2012, on a 5-year lease. Our thoughts were to grow from this facility, into a larger facility, to better service the Northern Virginia cheer market. One year into our lease, a building code inspector came to our facility, due to noise complaints from our neighbor. Upon entering the building, they inspected and found our Non-RUP was incorrect. It is important to note that the landlord obtained the Non-RUP for Cheer Tyme. This was not an occupancy that we filed to the county, but one our landlord obtained for us. We also found at the time of the inspection that our zoning was incorrect for our use determination. The Landlord was notified immediately, and the county filed a grievance against the landlord for our occupancy. This set off several issues, which Cheer Tyme has been working to alleviate since 2013.
We understood that we could run our business at this location prior to signing the lease. As a resident of PA, we filed business paperwork for the state of VA, have filed tax returns, have paid our share of all county and employee taxes, and have run our business legally since we opened our doors. This Non-RUP has become a thorn in our side since one year into our arrival in VA. Unfortunately, the lease that we signed is very landlord friendly. We have been stuck trying to fix all these issues that have been presented by our occupation of this space. To name a few: Legal Fees (ours and the landlords, as per our lease), parking tabulations (paid for the entire building to be relined), new tenant layouts, architectural drawings, county filings, use determination, etc.
We have actively been working to alleviate these issues for over 2 years. Our landlord and Cheer Tyme have been to court and have received extensions, in order to correct violations, so we can receive the proper Non-RUP for the space. Over the 2 years we have corrected all issues associated with the building and paid for these issues solely, without the help of the landlord, as per our lease.
We have recently arrived at the point where Cheer Tyme has done everything necessary to obtain the plans and permits for construction inside the building. It was determined through our load and use determination that we would need to remove 2 of our current bathrooms, and then add 6 additional bathrooms to the space. We tried to get an exemption, as we have never in 3 years had a complaint of not enough bathrooms in our space, and we had three. We couldn’t imagine why 7 were necessary. The code for our use and space says 7 bathrooms, so we were stuck with this ruling. Our architect made it work, we paid for it, and had the drawings done. Cheer Tyme submitted the drawings to the landlord, with the intentions of having the work done by them, and we would extend our lease to amortize the cost over however many more years necessary. The construction bids that were received by the landlord were excessive in cost. The landlord has since decided that they will not pay for the work to be done for the bathrooms, and is putting all the cost back on Cheer Tyme. Cheer Tyme is not in a position to pay for, nor would we invest in new bathrooms if we were in a position to pay for this upgrade. We simply cannot invest in a building we are leasing, just for the sake of staying in it. We have requested that the landlord pay for this contract work , and in return we were going to extend our lease at Sullyfield Circle. The landlord is not willing to do so.
We simply refuse to spend that much money on bathrooms for this building when we do not own it, and there are several buildings within a 10-minute radius of this facility that could meet our needs the same, if not better. We had two other options in 2012, one of which had baseball in it and was already Rec use. We were under the mistaken impression that the Landlord would work with us once we were to a point where our plans and use were approved by the county. We currently are at that point and they have now placed all costs back on us to move forward. We have to date invested over $65,000 on keeping this alive. We regret spending any of that money, but have done so in order to not have our program shut down. The bathrooms were quoted at over $200,000 and we have zero interest in making that work.
We have since obtained a new Commercial Real Estate Broker and have also obtained legal council. Due to the stalemate between Cheer Tyme and the landlord, the county is now pressuring the landlord. We have been proactive on this situation from the start, as we are not leaving NOVA. It was always our goal to find a bigger and better location than Sullyfield Circle, this situation has pushed that process much sooner than the 5 years we had expected. We will find a new location (which we have several leads), hire a new All Star Director (which we are in talks with a few), and continue to grow Cheer Tyme to the largest program in Northern Virginia. Kim and I are committed to the area and the growth of Cheer Tyme.
We have some amazing staff, athletes and families at Cheer Tyme. We believe it would be a disservice to not reaffirm to our customer base that we are committed to you, even thru this challenging time. Our staff has already been informed regarding these issues. We have started to hear some customer rumors surface of our departure from NOVA. This is not true. It may be true that we will depart from Sullyfield Circle, but we are not leaving NOVA. We will create a new home with the proper Non-RUP and zoning. We will get through this unfortunate issue. Our legal council is working to get us an extension through the remainder of our season (end of April), however if that is not accepted, then we will move before May. The next court date is not
until January 22nd. We will most likely not move until after that date.
Hopefully this release explains some of the challenges we have been faced with through the years in VA. Know we are dedicated to you and feel the need to clear the air on this so that more rumors are not created. Kim and I thank you all and we are here if anyone has more questions or concerns.
Kimberly Braasch Scott “Crasher” Braasch
Co-Owner, Cheer Tyme Co-Owner, Cheer Tyme
[email protected] [email protected]