I am looking into the option of buying a PAD site, most likely for a fast food chain or Starbucks.

What is the lot rent per pad?

So I pull up the carpet and pad, underneath I find stick on linoleum tile so I chisel that up and find painted hardwood - tile idea was scrapped and I spent a long weekend running to Home Depot to rent the sander and refinishing the floor.

In one year we cleared out 6 junk homes, rebuilt 19 pads and filled with homes.

You can't see it in this picture, but the ones I buy have a folding cover, so nothing can spill out of the top in case I end up doing a hard brake in my car and things go flying. 

We removed a deteriorated concrete pad which was actually a planting bed that someone had filled in.

Carpet - remove carpet and pad and seal floor if necessary.  

Expect to replace the carpet and pad.

You're also going to go through a lot of sanding disks, so my favorite sanders (I have a Porter-Cable) are the ones with a "hook-and-loop" sanding pad.

Also the direct contact with the joists transmitts the sound readily.There are sound type pads you can put  under the carpet as well as new better carpets.