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Transcript
00:00
Welcome to networking Arizona with host Carol Blonder. You’ll hear interviews with businesses located throughout the valley. Networking, it makes a difference. Info chain.
00:17
Welcome to the show. I’m excited. It’s Friday, I can’t believe it’s already almost the end of April. We’re already looking at one more week of that. We are live here in the studio. We’re live on Facebook. So hi to everybody out there like us and follow us. And if you want to put in Networking Arizona into Facebook, all spelled out Networking Arizona, you can watch us in here during the show right now, it is really fun to do. I’m gonna go in and I want to make sure that that mic is really live. There we go. And so I have with me my first guest. They’ve been on with me many, many times. I have with me, Richie Edwards, and he’s one of the attorneys of FR Law Group. Welcome back to the show. We always have to do this when you come on. First of all, did you explain obviously a little bit about FR Law Group? What makes them a little different? And how they bring the big guns to the people who can anyone who can, you know, obviously do it at a very, very to the guy who can the little guy that can get that from them?
01:16
Right? That’s right. Well, I’m glad to be back. Thank you. And yeah, we are at the FR Law Group we have, we like to say a national level experience. And we can bring you the big huge law firm experience, fight and results on a small business budget. A good way to say and we are happy,
01:36
because I didn’t know if I should say that or not. But you know, here’s the thing, there are a lot of people out there. And we’re gonna talk about something that’s in the news today. That’s big time. And some of you may or may not know of it, but we’re gonna talk about what that is and how it relates. I love the way that you kind of talk about business law and how certain things can relate to almost anyone but they have to listen up. So first of all, tell everybody a little bit about what we’re going to talk about today.
02:05
Perfect. So I had a couple of days ago in the news and previous months ago had read about this ongoing litigation in Tempe, and it’s between a restaurant music venue called Shady Park and a senior living facility that ASU owns Mirabella at ASU. And their dispute as it’s if we just put it right down to its basics is the music at Shady Park is too loud. Turn it down, we can’t sleep, we can’t talk, we can’t enjoy our very expensive apartments and condos here, and we’d really like to. And for all of you who may not own a restaurant, you don’t have this this issue your home, you don’t own apartments, I hope and I think that what we’re going to talk about today, you’ll see is applicable to all of you, because what it really involves at its core is two businesses that came to the same place that they were going to have a great time be very successful, and then ran into this collision. Six years later, somebody wins, somebody loses and Shady Park in this case, isn’t getting its expectation and it’s losing. And then what do you do? How do you prevent that?
03:13
Now Shady Park has been around, you said for quite some time?
03:16
That’s exactly right. So Shady park opened in 2015. And in 2015, they started having EDM music concert.
03:24
I’m sure all of you know exactly what that is.So tell them what it is.
03:27
The EDM, electronic dance music is very loud. It’s very techno technology, a lot of bass. And at a normal EDM venue, it’s important for the people who go and the DJs who are there, the music is very loud. They feel like at a certain level is where it’s supposed to be played, sort of the artistic form of that. Shady Park’s done that since 2015, they’ve been very successful, having concerts every weekend, almost Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and sometimes during the week, and throughout that time they’ve never been cited by the city never had a noise complaint and if operated really successfully until this current problem with Mirabella. Now Mirabella, the senior living facility, also started breaking ground in 2015. Right around the time Shady Park is starting, Mirabella starting to break ground. It’s a large apartment complex, so it took a long time. They didn’t open until December of 2020. We’ll go back we know December 2020. Restaurants, music venues shut down because of COVID. So Shady Park’s not having any music, any concerts right when the residents and Mirabella move in. So there’s a few months where there’s no problems, nobody has any issues with each other until May 2021. Shady Park opens up again, has their first concert and all heck breaks loose for the residents of Mirabella and starts where we’re at today.
04:43
I want to talk about a couple of things. Okay. Tempe. It’s in Tempe.
04:48
It is. Yep, it’s University and Mill. So right, right there near the campus.
04:52
Tempe. It is a campus town. That’s exactly right. So the people who purchased it decided to do Mirabella I got to talk to them you because,
05:00
I mean it was ASU, okay?
05:03
ASU, right. But they own it. Right. So ASU owns it,
05:07
right? It’s Mirabella ASU. What were they thinking?
Well, development, money, right?
05:12
I know but why would they need seniors living, because that’s the thing. I mean, I’m from LA. Right. And I lived in, I went to UCLA. And so we had that little town. Right. Right. We had a little, you know, it’s beautiful, fabulous. But no, there’s no, definitely no. But we don’t have what we might now i It’s been a while since I’ve been there. But
05:33
they probably do now. But no, the question right is why did ASU want to bring this? Why did the city of Tempe improve it? And what I think it is, and I don’t know, I wasn’t on the development group. And I don’t know, but I think it’s them trying to expand and make Tempe a bigger place and get out of that college town or sort of, oh, that’s a college town. It’s only partying. And they want to grow, try to bring businesses, their families, their older people, and really want to expand the Tempe economy. And I think that was behind it a noble goal for execution. I think if
06:04
you ask me, Well, yeah, in a sense, when you think about that now, here’s the restaurant slash venue that has been there before then that mean before they even opened, right, basically. That’s right. And now they are being told to turn down their music. You said? Yeah. And what are some of the rules? Yeah,
06:21
Well, that’s great. So just a few days ago, last week, actually, I think it was the 11th. So maybe 10 days ago, a judge in Maricopa County. He said that Shady Park has to go and start abiding by some rules. And they’re really strict. He says that you can only operate in their concert.
06:38
They’re seniors that go ahead. You can
06:40
Only operate Shady Parks concerts on Friday and Saturday to 11pm. They used to go until 2am. College Town Olympians kind of when you’re getting started. And that’s when they have to end. And Sunday’s they can only go from two to 7pm, 2pm to 7pm. So the judge is really restricted when they can operate. He’s also told them that they have to turn the music down. And he’s also required that they buy more subwoofers special kinds of subwoofers and that they also take other mitigation efforts that Shady Park says is going to cost so much, they might not be able to operate anymore, because no one’s going to go to an EDM concert that ends at 11pm in a college town.
07:16
Sure. Now here’s the thing that we’re gonna do, what we’re gonna do is figure out how, why this relates in it, I can see where you’re going with this, how it relates to other businesses out there to almost any business, this could happen too. And the thing is, is this is where FR Law Group comes in. And that we’re going to talk a little bit about that now with FR Law Group. That thing is with I love the information that we talk about here. So it’s good, it’s even cooler because I can talk about this too with you. And it relates to business and it relates to almost anybody out there, write the information down it’s frlawgroup.com They help people nationwide and they do a free consultations for people and their phone number to call is 602-566-7425. They’re located right here in Phoenix but you know what, they help people from anywhere as matter of fact nationwide and this could be for anyone anywhere living especially if you live in an area where there are more hustle and bustle going on as well. So we’re gonna go on a break, we’re gonna come back check them out, it’s frlawgroup.com.
11:41
So welcome back everyone. This is an interesting topic that we’re talking about and it’s right in the news right now. And we’re going to relate it now from what we were talking about now to how it relates to any business. Obviously, I was talking, we were talking to Facebook land out there about how I feel that almost like you know, and I’m almost gonna say this to you that to me, they might have not even decided that it was going to be a senior living place right away. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t, maybe they decided to as, because you said that they were building it for how long their bill was before, it was like five years. That’s a long time. And maybe they thought, well, this might be a good idea and change their idea. I don’t know, I could be wrong. But interesting enough, let’s talk about how it relates to businesses out there. Right.
12:27
So this dispute between Mirabella and Shady Park at its heart, it’s not an apartment complex versus music venue. It’s not young versus old. What it really came down to is as a business and as citizens in the Tempe community, who has priority to get to do what they want to get to enjoy their leisure activities, their time at home, read, study, sleep, whatever in peace versus go out and have a good time in a college town. And in making that decision, the judge went over a lot of things that’s applicable to all the businesses. So as a business owner, unless you own a very rural farm, you’re going to have neighbors, and the neighbors are going to be houses, they’re going to be other businesses that operate differently than you. And that’s going to at some point cause a problem for you. Those businesses will have different goals than you have, you will have different goals than them. And then sometimes those goals will align and sometimes they’ll clash. And where we help and what I think it’s a really important when you’re going in with an attorney, you’re going to a new facility, you’re changing your business, you’re growing, you’re moving it or somebody is coming in next to you where you want to do it, right? You check it out. But what you really want to do is make sure you dot dot your i’s you cross your t’s so that if it ever does go to court, you are found to have priority of use, and that you can’t be told Shady Park, you got to shut down T Shirt Company, you got to stop printing T shirts, taco shop, you can’t sell too late at night because the house is next door don’t like it so that you if it ever goes there, get told, keep doing what you’re doing. You’re doing great, right, and you can keep making the money.
14:00
But how do you know that that could happen? Like for instance, they were, they had opened up their business. You said in 2015? No 1515 They have the
14:10
Shady Park it. That’s when they started having these concerts in a restaurant. They
14:13
were actually even a restaurant before that. So they were around. And they did and then here comes Mirabella and how would they know that five years down the line that something like that would happen? How do they protect? How does a business protect themselves? That’s where you come in. Right? For anything that could happen to foresee in the future to look in the future. How do you do that? Right?
14:35
You do it in a number of ways. The primary ones, Right? The Shady Parks should have been paying more attention to the development that was going on the permits that were getting passed, who was coming in next door and what implications that was going to have and then doing that they should have right from the beginning. sought. Outside easements sought counsel through the city that allowed them to continue. To continue there, right they should have gone to the city and said, we know this is going to affect us. We want to keep operating. Here’s why. And here’s what we’re going to do, and gotten the city to give them actual permission, lobby to change the laws, or really gotten a better lease, Building a Better Building. Because they have foot made changes to their building, they built canopies and things that they say mitigates the sound, but it really doesn’t, right. And so they’ve spent a lot of money that’s gone down the drain, when they could have right from 2016 to 2020 area, figured out how they could work with Mirabella, because at the end of the day, I can’t force somebody not to move in next to me, they’re going to move in if they want to. But what I’ve got to do is figure out the best way to work with them, that allows me to continue making money. And what Shady Park did I think, is they put their head in the sand and they said, we’re just gonna keep doing what we’re doing, and we’re not gonna worry about it. And then it came too late. And this big, nice luxury facility had more economic heft than they did I think, and ultimately, that plays a lot in the judges mind, right? Who are we inconveniencing versus not in theory, these students who go to these EDM concerts, they can go somewhere else to get them. These people who are in their apartments and condos can’t go anywhere else to sleep. And it becomes an issue of what do you do and Shady Park right from the very beginning, I think they didn’t pay enough attention to their neighbors and how it might affect their business down the line.
16:23
So the way I see it can happen in any businesses that can happen. Especially I was just thinking about, let’s say, a mini mall, like a little outside mini mall. You’ve got a place there. I know I’ve been in the bank when right next door now is a you know, a tobacco shop. Now they might like the smell of that, right? But there might be somebody there that might say, Hey, I can’t deal with this. But Baba, and it could I just use? It’s a great example, given another one really quickly. There’s a matte nail place. I know a nail. I mean, is it within the same within that same thing? And not far away from each other? There’s two people doing the same thing, right? That does not make sense, right?
17:02
No, it doesn’t. And that’s an instance where the nail place should have gotten an agreement with their landlord that they wouldn’t give a space to somebody who did the same business as them right that they would have priority in that area. You know, you can see disputes with a tobacco or marijuana shop next to a health supplement store. Right? That’s the customers are great. They’re not going to go there. That’s actually really good. And a lot of that’s with your landlord, come
17:24
on in here get healthy. That’s right.
17:26
Maybe that one is good, right. And maybe it’s not. But it’s really dealing right from the beginning with your landlord, your neighbors, your contracts, so that you can say, this is what you can do. And if something messes up, here’s how I’m protected. I can get out of it. I can get paid, I had the right insurance in place. And then if you haven’t done all of that, right, you’re in a problem like Shady Park is you go to an attorney and you say we need to fix this. And what I think Shady Park should have done is they should have come to an agreement with Mirabella, hey, you know, we’ll spend a couple $100,000 and build a better facility, it’ll mitigate the noise somehow, and we’ll work out an agreement instead, they’ve spent a lot of money on a lawyer, and he’s gonna keep cashing the checks. I’m just gonna be honest with you. And they’re nowhere and may have to shut down that money would have been better spent coming to an agreement with Mirabella that allowed both parties to go ahead and operate and that is there any
18:15
way they could have gotten them to like the music, the old folks? I don’t think like the music No way.
18:21
I don’t think so. But I think they could have done it to see the old folks in their dance. And they’re dancing and doing that. What I really think they could have done is spent some time getting an expert in there and said, Hey, how can we make sure the sound doesn’t travel? So far, it’s such a loud, a lot, decibel level, but still let our people here enjoy it. I really think they could have done it. But it’s too late now,
18:40
right? So the decision has been made,
18:43
that they’re going to appeal it and it’ll do what it does in the courts, but they’ve spent the money and now if they want to fix it are going to have to spend more money to keep operating right there. They’re sending good money after bad in a sense when they could have spent the good money initially and been fine right now.
18:57
So like we’ve said many times when you come on, it’s all about the contract, contract, but it’s all about also thinking about those things. And now obviously when this has come up for use it and attorney, you will make sure that you will say hey, listen, you know, right now while we’re doing this, let’s put this into our contract now, right, just in case in the future comes down the line, right? We want
19:19
to protect you from risks from risks down the line. And if something bad comes then we want to help you right, but we want to protect you initially and Shady Park I don’t think was protected adequately, right.
19:29
And again, if you’re aren’t dealing with something like this, that’s where you come in. It’s for you guys, they have the big guns that they’re going to be able to help well for anybody out there. And that’s what you’ve done. You’ve brought it to that on any size business, small, medium, large can work with you, and to make sure that you’re protected and if you’re going to start a business, if you’re going to open up a restaurant, if you’re going to have it just anything like that doesn’t matter. But when you have a business like that, can you think of a business that might not be something where you have that might be something even on a smaller level that could also affect something like, let’s say, I don’t even know. I mean, my mind is going a mile a minute right now.
20:10
Well, you know, it really could be anything you said, a nail salon, a tobacco shop, a restaurant, it could be maybe that your business doesn’t interfere with mine. But how we deal with the trash, how we deal with parking where customers go, there’s so many things that businesses interact with each other, that ultimately harms one or the other, right? And you want to protect yourself from that
20:31
also things that people like maybe you started a business, you’ve been around for a while, and somebody comes around and starts do something the same, right? Maybe that’s another good exam, just thinking even on a smaller level that way, you know, because in any way, you’re there to help, right,
20:45
we’re there to help. And it’s, I always say, spend 1000 bucks. Now, let us do a few hours, look things over, make sure you’re protected to save you a ton of money down the line. And we’re happy to do that we’re at our firm, what we try to do is get the client out happy and efficiently and as little money as possible, because we think then they’ll come back, they’ll send their friends back. And we don’t need to try to bleed you dry. On one case, we’d like to do it quickly, efficiently and cost effectively. So that you keep coming back and you send your friends and family and then other businesses back to us. And we think us and the community around us will thrive that way.
21:19
Also with a business you always need an attorney around. I think you never know when you’re gonna need once you want one in your back pocket. I think that’s right, their phone number to call at 602-566-7425. They do free consultations. They’re right here in Phoenix, but you know what, they help people nationwide. You could check them out on their website, it is frlawgroup.com. What are your final words for today? Get that contract out and take a look.
21:47
Right, everybody, if you’re at a business, you see things are changing, and they’re changing rapidly now. Get your contracts out, talk to your neighbors, talk to your landlord, and then talk to an attorney to see if there is anything out here that opens me up to risk? Is there anything that I should change and change it now before the problem comes?
22:05
So a lot of people have contracts that were done from so long ago, for instance, like you got to dust them off just like anything else. You’ve got to keep them up to date? That’s right, right. And that’s another thing that’s good to do, as well as to make sure that you’re making sure of anything that could happen foreseeably in the future. Check them out on their website, it is frlawgroup.com They work nationwide, they do free consultations, and their phone number is 602-566-7425. And it’s so interesting that we’re talking about this because it’s in the news now and I know a lot of people that are listening may or may not be a fan of this. What is it called? EDM music. Oh, that’s right. Okay. It may not be a fan, but you know what, that’s their music. They love it and they’re entitled to go and have a good time. It’s a college town. And it’s kind of interesting how this kind of worked out there. But how it relates to almost any business out there. You got to make sure that you guys your contracts are up to snuff, right? That remember again to call them it is 602-566-7425 it’s frlawgroup.com.