How can I ask my landlord to pay for our air conditioner?

[Jason Brown]

Aside from opening an account on BiggerPockets to further educate my real estate interests, I've come to ask for some opinions and advice on my current situation with my landlord.

(MY BACKGROUND)

I recently inherited part ownership of a small independent bookstore located in Fullerton of Southern California called Half Off Books Records Films. I've volunteered and worked my way up arduously since 2012 and have learned a lot helping run and manage this store with it's founder Brad and his mother Diane. It wasn't until 2017 that the owners had to relocate from it's original Uptown Whittier area. I was then asked if investing into the business would be of any interest. Me being the high risking workaholic I decided to bite. I originally fell in love with the mom and pop shop because they supported me when no one else would. I grew to discover I partnered in the wrong way because in 2017 I signed as a guarantor on the lease for up to 5 years. I wasn't completely left alone to handle everything though. Things finally settled down and the stores been afloat since. Times unfortunately have changed since January 2019. The founder(my partner), who is the sole-proprietor's son had passed away suddenly which left almost everything on Diane and I. As the new manager I've been doing as much as possible from closing a 2nd location in Pasadena to being HR to figuring out paper trails and everything else while the sole-proprietor has been reflecting on her new life. I'm pretty proud of myself considering I haven't self destructed and still kept my other job as a in home support provider. At this point, among other catastrophes, it's summer in SoCal and I really can't stand this heat nor do I especially want to put my co-workers/customers through this next year.

(MY SITUATION)

From what I know, the founder mentioned, the landlord wouldn't want to pay to replace the 2 existing HVAC's. I've reached out for a couple quotes that stretch from 24k to 27k. I'm not surprised they wouldn't want to foot the bill but we never felt it wise to pay for units that could easily surpass our existing lease also. Until I hear back about what specific details are drawn on the lease, does anyone have any advice on what I should expect, look into and/or approach them with for a win-win scenario. I started with a HVAC fund where customers can drop their change/tips in. With that I've been saving that away at the end of every month in a high yield interest savings account. I know it may  not be the perfect solution but it's what we started. 

Thank you for giving this a read. I hope to hear from you soon!