Leadership – Nathan Griffis

Originally built in 1958, the old First Federal Savings and Loans Bank building located along 301 Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach, Florida, has long been a familiar sight to residents driving down the busy thoroughfare. Its location, just before the bridge to well-heeled Palm Beach, made it both a landmark and an attractive piece of real-estate. Over the years the 10,000 square-foot building with its distinctive rotunda has been home to a bank, a charter school, and even an antique car collection. Sadly though, due to its size being either too big or too small for most tenants, the historic building laid vacant and was falling into a state of disrepair. 7-Eleven had been eyeing the property for a while when it reached out to Cuhaci Peterson to help salvage this historic gem, and transform it into a beautiful new store.

The building had interesting Mid-Century Modern architectural features, some that the city and its historic preservation society wanted to keep, and others that had to go in order to bring the building up to code. Given the age of the structure, our team was met with countless opportunities to solve problems with strategic and creative solutions.

Another interesting 7-Eleven project our team had the privilege to work on was our first 2.0 Prototype in Kissimmee, Florida. The contemporized store, which was specifically designed to appeal to the tastes of a younger generation, has a sleek modern look that will make you do a doubletake and ask yourself, is this really a convenience store? Blurring the line between convenience and quick-service restaurants, 7-Eleven’s 2.0 stores feature fresh-prepared foods and amenities such as cigar humidors and wine caves.

Our team made multiple site visits to the Kissimmee location to follow the construction progress and allow some of our younger team members to get some dirt on their boots and better understand how the drawings they do in the office translate into real world applications in the field. Yet another example of how Team CP partners with its clients to transform ideas into value.

The construction and labor costs associated with their standard format prototype challenged the business case to develop in these various locations. Cuhaci Peterson and the Parker’s development team knew that to find true cost savings we need to address more than a few finish materials. The real savings is in price per square foot, so we pursued development of a smaller format prototype. Along with an overall area reduction of 900 square feet we also worked to simplify the building design and structural configuration. We made small adjustments to a variety of elements, but we all agreed that any “value engineering” could not impact the brand.

The other element that we knew we could not negatively impact was the consistency that we had built into the program. Consistency is extremely important and if you want to achieve it, you often need to add specific information, like millwork. This may be something left in the hands of a subcontractor for a single project. However, you want that millwork to look the same no matter which Parker’s Kitchen you walk into and the specificity of details matter. Variables like contractors, regions or states can change but the customer experience must stay the same, with the goal being to deliver the same end product. To date, CP has delivered three prototypes plus mirrored versions. These prototypes have become the starting point of dozens of site-adapts and have established foundation for every Parker’s development.

In the end, it was CP’s willingness to listen to what is important to Parker’s Kitchen, understanding what is non-negotiable and then using expertise and knowledge, such as regional influences, jurisdictions and design tenets to make the program scalable and effective. Cuhaci Peterson has also utilized its expertise with other retailers to support Parker’s. One of our first sites at the Savannah Globe was cohabitated with a Starbucks. We supported this development by preparing the design documents for the Starbucks shell as well creating one of the most interesting Starbucks drive-thru experiences in the country.

Following the 2008 recession, Wawa embarked on an ambitious campaign to migrate to the state of Florida from their home market in the Mid-Atlantic. At a time when the economy was still in a downturn, they announced that they were going to open not just one or two locations, they were going to open twenty-five the first year. The goal was to make a big splash in the Sunshine State, and everything had to be just right. After all, Floridians had never seen anything like Wawa before. Yes, they sell gas but what they are really known for is fresh food. The company had to stay true to its brand yet reinvent itself to become part of the fabric of the Florida lifestyle. The warmer climate presented challenges and opportunities.

Wawa’s distinctive sloped fuel canopy is easily recognizable driving down the road, but it presented a challenge because the potential for hurricane-force winds meant that they must meet stricter Florida building codes. On the other hand, the warmer weather also provided an opportunity for them to incorporate outdoor seating into the new store design. Something that would be unthinkable in the colder climate of their home market.