Andy Sehremelis on Site Selection and Entitlement in Retail Development

By Andy Sehremelis · October 27, 2026

Andy Sehremelis evaluates a development site through two professional disciplines at once. He founded Parkcrest Construction in Chino in 1992. Andy Sehremelis is a licensed real estate broker and a Southern California commercial builder and operator. Parkcrest's company materials describe his specialty as acquiring land for development, with responsibility extending through entitlement processing, project management, construction, leasing and management.

That scope has a direct effect on underwriting. A broker assesses a parcel for market value, demand and tenant fit. A general contractor assesses the same parcel for buildability, site work and construction risk. Holding both responsibilities means a site is screened against both sets of criteria before a commitment is made. Because Parkcrest also leases and manages property, long-term operating performance is part of the acquisition decision from the start.

Core site criteria: visibility, access and parking

Parkcrest states its retail development priorities directly: "An attractive exterior design, a high visibility location, easy access, and generous parking will help attract and retain tenants." The sequence is deliberate. Design and visibility generate the first customer visit. Access and parking determine whether that visit is repeated, and repeat visits support tenant sales and, in turn, tenant retention.

For the property types in Parkcrest's portfolio, which include drive-thru restaurants, gas stations, express car washes and neighborhood retail, ingress and egress are primary underwriting criteria rather than design details. Approach direction, turning movements, sightlines from the roadway and driveway spacing all determine how much passing traffic a site can capture.

On-site circulation and stacking

Once a vehicle enters the property, internal circulation governs throughput. Drive-thru restaurants and express car washes depend on adequate stacking: queue capacity held on site so that waiting vehicles do not back up into the public right-of-way. Parkcrest's project list includes Archibald's Drive Thru restaurants in several Southern California communities, a format in which lane design is a primary operating variable.

Co-tenancy and anchor adjacency

Several Parkcrest projects use co-tenancy to support smaller buildings. The company lists a shadow retail project at Riverside Drive and Archibald Avenue in Ontario, positioned alongside WaMu and Ace Hardware, where the space benefits from traffic generated by established anchors. Parkcrest also built pad buildings at a Harkins Entertainment Center, including a pad for Taco Bell, drawing on the theater's customer base. The portfolio also includes a build-to-suit Walgreens on Arrow Highway in San Dimas and a 23,000-square-foot neighborhood retail center on Studebaker Road in Long Beach.

Entitlement and compatibility with adjacent uses

Entitlement is the stage at which a site plan is tested against local zoning, design standards and surrounding land uses. Commercial uses with queuing, equipment noise or extended hours, including car washes and drive-thrus, generally receive close review for their effect on neighbors. Parkcrest's Lakewood express car wash, a ground-up build on Carson Street with a water-recycling wash system, was designed with "consideration for the home community within the next lot over," according to company materials. Parkcrest also built Mac's Automotive, an auto-service building, on the adjoining lot, placing complementary automotive uses on contiguous parcels.

Trade-area economics

Parkcrest's materials describe Sehremelis as "proficient in the methodology of economic trends" in real estate decisions. He holds a business degree from Pepperdine University, with studies in management, finance and economics. Site selection is, in effect, a long-range forecast of trade-area demand: who will pass a given location over the life of the asset, and which services they will require.

"A site can look strong on a map and still underperform. Before anything else, I want to know whether customers can see it in time, enter easily and exit safely. Every other assumption in the pro forma depends on that."