This is our biggest venture idea yet. And it’s in a new area of business. Please help me poke holes and think from every angle!

A local restaurant near us is shut down and selling their space. It’s underpriced for the sq footage (5000 sq Ft inside and 10,000 sq Ft outside) it’s selling for $450,000. And the space is right on the river with about 115 feet of waterfront.

Our idea is to take the space and make it an event venue. Primarily focusing on weddings and receptions as well as other social events, baby/bridal showers, and corporate events.

The space has two inside bars, an outdoor bar, an outdoor stage. It has great bones. I think we could move in and start renting with little to no work - the biggest updates would be paint and decor.

Year one (hopefully summer 2024) would be just a rental where we help manage day of and start building wedding and event vendor relationships. No in house restaurant or anything.

Future years we would assess the ability to expand to event decor and chair rentals, expand into other in house food options, etc.

The question: please poke any holes you can or provide your experience if you’ve done something like this before!

If you’re in the venue industry, what am I not thinking of? What is a typical book rate for venues? Is every weekend booked? How long does it take to turn that around?

Financing: we would go through a bank. Do you have any best practices for buying buildings through the bank for local event spaces?