Andy Sehremelis on Developing, Owning and Operating Commercial Real Estate
By Andy Sehremelis · October 27, 2026
Commercial real estate typically divides a project's life among separate specialists: the developer who entitles and builds, the owner who holds the asset, the property manager who leases and maintains it, and the operator who runs the business inside it. Andy Sehremelis has worked in each of those roles.
Sehremelis founded Parkcrest Construction in Chino in 1992. Over his career, Parkcrest has developed restaurants, gas stations, express car washes and retail centers across Southern California, along with multifamily housing. Across that portfolio, the consistent discipline is to start from established customer and tenant demand and design the property around it.
The operator's perspective
Sehremelis also operates businesses that occupy the type of real estate he develops. He owns Archibald's, the drive-thru restaurant brand, and Parkcrest's project list includes Archibald's locations in several Southern California communities. The California Sports Hall of Fame profile describes Archibald's as offering American and Mexican fare along with live game broadcasts on flat-screen TVs, creating a sports-themed setting for families. The restaurant's current website leads with burgers, breakfast and all-day favorites.
Operating a tenant business gives a developer direct visibility into the variables that drive store performance: speed of service, drive-thru capacity, parking availability at peak periods and the ongoing cost of maintaining the facility. Those operating inputs carry into the design of properties built for other tenants.
Needs-based and complementary uses
The same profile lists Parkcrest's specialties as retail and commercial space, including "Fueling, Express Wash and Automotive Uses." Needs-based service retail, such as fuel, car care, quick-service food and pharmacy, tends to generate recurring visits that depend less on discretionary spending. Parkcrest has also clustered complementary uses. In Lakewood, it built an express car wash and an auto-service building on adjoining lots. In Moreno Valley, it built an express car wash on Frederick Street and renovated an existing retail center at Sunnymead Boulevard and Frederick Street.
Value-add repositioning
Not every opportunity calls for ground-up construction. Parkcrest has rehabilitated older retail properties, including one on Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach. Repositioning an existing center can extend its economic life and align it with current tenant demand, generally with less entitlement exposure than a new development.
Residential property
Parkcrest's work extends to residential property. Its project list includes the rehabilitation of a 76-unit low-income apartment community on Plumosa Drive in Yorba Linda.
Property management and long-term ownership
Parkcrest also manages properties, and its materials emphasize responsive management that attracts tenants quickly and keeps lease renewals high. For an owner focused on long-term performance, occupancy and renewals are central measures, because tenant turnover brings downtime, re-leasing cost and re-tenanting risk. Management also produces market data: tenant performance and vacancy indicate which uses a trade area will support, which in turn informs the next acquisition.
Customer behavior continues to shift in how people pay, order food and fuel their vehicles. Properties built around durable, needs-based demand are better positioned to adjust their tenant mix as those patterns change.
"I underwrite a project as if I'll own it for a long time, because decisions made in design show up in operating costs and lease renewals for years. A property has to work for the tenant before it can work for the owner."