Encyclopedia
Pad site
A stand-alone parcel or building site within a larger retail centre, often used for restaurants, banks or drive-throughs.
For example: Hypothetical: a shopping centre owner ground-leases a pad near the road to a quick-service restaurant that builds its own building. (Illustration only, not a real deal.)
This is a general industry term with no single official definition. Your lease or contract wording controls.
Example only, not a real client. Say a fast food chain leases a pad site at the edge of a shopping centre parking lot. It builds its own drive-through building there under a ground lease, while the centre owner keeps ownership of the land.
What I’d tell a friend
For pad sites, check access, parking and signage rights in the centre’s agreements, not just the lease.
Why it matters to you
The visibility can be worth a lot to a drive-through or bank, but the lease or ground lease usually comes with design rules, use limits and shared costs. Read them before you plan the building.
How to use it in your deal
Tenants should ask whether the pad is leased as land only (a ground lease, where you build) or with a building. Check access, shared parking and drive-through stacking space. Owners should make sure the pad doesn't block sightlines to the main centre and that reciprocal easements cover access, parking and signs.
Check the reciprocal easement agreement for restrictions on use, height, signage and drive-through lanes, since anchors often control what can go on a pad. Ask who maintains shared parking and access, and how costs are shared. Ground leases on pads are common, so read the term and what happens to the building at the end.
Mistakes I see
Assuming shared parking rights exist without a written easement. Underestimating the time to get permits for a new building. Forgetting that a ground lease puts building costs and risk on you.
In BC and Vancouver
Pad sites are often created by subdivision or with an Easement or Statutory right of way (SRW) registered on title. A Title search at the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) shows what's registered. Drive-throughs may need specific zoning approval.
Official sources: Land Title and Survey Authority of BC · Land Title Act (BC Laws) · Zoning and Development By-law (City of Vancouver)
What it is
A pad site is a separate building lot within or beside a shopping centre, usually near the road, used for a standalone building such as a bank, restaurant or gas station.
Pads may be sold, leased as land or leased with a building on them.
What to check
Look at shared access, parking rights, reciprocal agreements with the centre and any restrictions on use.
Check zoning and drive-through rules with the city before you commit.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Is this a ground lease or a building lease?
- What easements cover access, parking and signs?
- Is a drive-through allowed under the zoning?
- Who maintains the shared areas, and how is cost shared?
Keep reading
Related terms: Leasehold, Anchor tenant, Easement, Covenant (title)
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General information for British Columbia only. It isn’t legal, tax, accounting or financial advice, laws and rates change, and reading it doesn’t make you my client. Any numbers or scenarios are hypothetical. Check the linked official source and talk to a lawyer, accountant or other qualified professional before you act or sign anything. See the terms and disclaimer.