• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

Occupancy classification on downtown building

D

Dameron75

Registered User
Joined
Mar 26, 2018
Messages
7
Location
Texas
I own a large building in the downtown area where I live, and am wanting to put in an ice cream parlor on the bottom floor, and I have some questions about occupancy.

The total sq ft of the building is 22,500, but I only plan to use a portion of the ground floor. The building is currently occupancy coded as Mercantile, and the total work area for alterations is only about 3000 sq ft. Based on discussions with my city code official, I would have to have an occupancy change to Assembly. However, based on my research, if the space used for Assembly is 750 sq ft and is accessory to another occupancy, it can be considered part of that occupancy. Would I be able to section off only 750 sq ft or so as seating, and not have to change the occupancy?
 
Yes and no

If you keep the seating/ customer area to below 750 or 50 customers,,

You would be a,,, B occupancy.

Do you intend to have this a seperate business/ area from the rest of the businesses?

As in I would have to go into a seperate front door to access it??

Or combined with another business, like Walmart does with subway??
 
About what per cent of the rest of the building is occupied??

Is it all used for mercantile?
 
Accessory occupancies.
Accessory occupancies are those occupancies that are ancillary to the main occupancy of the building or portion thereof. Accessory occupancies shall
comply with the provisions of Sections 508.2.1 through 508.2.4.
508.2.1 Area limitations.
Aggregate accessory occupan-cies shall not occupy more than 10 percent of the building area of the story in which they arelocated and shall not
exceed the tabular values in Table 503, without building area increases in accordance with Section 506 for such accessory occupancies.
508.2.2 Occupancy classification.
Accessory occupan-cies shall be individually classified in accordance with Section 302.1. The requirements of this code shall apply to
each portion of the building based on the occupancy clas-sification of that space.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JBI
cda said:
Yes and no

If you keep the seating/ customer area to below 750 or 50 customers,,

You would be a,,, B occupancy.

Do you intend to have this a seperate business/ area from the rest of the businesses?

As in I would have to go into a seperate front door to access it??

Or combined with another business, like Walmart does with subway??
Click to expand...

The rest of the building is currently empty. The building has a second floor and basement, neither of which will be used for the soda shop. If the actual seating area is less than 50 people, but the area used for a kitchen, bathrooms and storage is greater than 750 can it still be classified as B?
 
Dameron75 said:
The rest of the building is currently empty. The building has a second floor and basement, neither of which will be used for the soda shop. If the actual seating area is less than 50 people, but the area used for a kitchen, bathrooms and storage is greater than 750 can it still be classified as B?
Click to expand...


Yes

But run it by your Building dept, to see if they agree
 
Oh and yes

You should be able to seperate the ice cream place from the rest of the Building

And it will be its own occupancy
 
Suggest you find a code consultant to help you,

And the person can look at the Building as a whole, so you do not have problems down the line
 
Dameron75 said:
Yes, we have installed a sprinkler throughout the entirety of the building.
Click to expand...


Sounds like you are good to go.

Still suggest a code consultant to advice your architect, in the design and whole use of the building.


Are you North Texas or South Texas??/
 
I think it is important to understand the difference between 'occupancy' and 'use' in the Code.
This is a single occupancy, an auto dealership, that includes multiple uses (sales, service).
For purposes of plumbing fixtures it is a 'B' occupancy.
For purposes of fire safety the various uses must be identified in order to establish a reasonable size for the building.

I agree that a single service sink would be appropriate for this facility based on the fact that it is a 'B' occupancy. JMHO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top