Ground Lease Process for Vacant Land

[Gene H.]

Hello - I'm looking into buying an unimproved vacant lot and putting a fast food/QSR restaurant as well as a coffee shop on two pad sites. I'd like to have the tenants enter into a ground lease agreement rather than a build to suit. I already have a couple of interested tenants.

I would like to get some input on the typical ground lease process for national retail tenant(s). I would obviously like to get my tenants secured and locked up in writing as soon as possible but issue is I don't have formal land use permits as of yet nor have I started the process - all I know is that QSR/coffee shop/drive thrus are allowed according to the zoning code. So at what point would I enter into a lease agreement with my tenants - before or after I get land use permits? I don't want to be in the situation where I spend a substantial amount of money, get the land use permits and then ultimately have my tenants back out...

Any input would be greatly appreciated!