The intended use
What needs to happen on the property, how much space it requires, and which parts of the building or site are essential to the program.
Feasibility + due diligence / New Jersey
Read the property before the larger commitment.
Architectural feasibility turns a general opportunity into a defined set of property, building, use, and next-step questions.
- Useful before
- Purchase / Lease / Reuse / Addition / Development
- Possible work
- Records / Site walk / Test fit / Findings / Next scope
- Result
- A documented architectural basis for the next decision
The purpose
Find the first questions, not every answer.
A property can look workable and still carry gaps in its record, use, access, egress, structure, systems, approvals, or existing conditions. A study makes those questions visible while there is still time to investigate them.
The scope should match the decision. A short document review may be enough for one question. Another property may require a site walk, municipal records, consultant input, and a test fit before the architectural position is useful.
Questions to frame
What the study may need to resolve.
The list is selected for the actual property and intended use. It is not a substitute for discipline-specific review.
The available record
Which surveys, approvals, occupancy records, drawings, reports, leases, and municipal documents exist—and which version is current.
The visible condition
What a site or building walk can show about access, circulation, egress, accessibility, structure, enclosure, systems, and prior alterations.
The review path
Which zoning, code, change-of-use, approval, consultant, testing, or record questions require confirmation before the project advances.
The decision date
What must be known before a lease, closing, application, budget decision, or larger design commission—and when that decision is due.
The next scope
Whether the work should stop with findings, continue into a test fit or concept, or move into a separately defined project phase.
A possible sequence
Move from record to decision.
Not every commission includes every step. Scope, access, schedule, deliverables, and consultant input are agreed first.
- 01
Frame the decision
State the property, intended use, commitment being considered, target date, and the question the study must answer.
- 02
Assemble the record
Review the documents made available and identify missing, inconsistent, outdated, or unconfirmed information that matters to the architectural question.
- 03
Read the property
Compare the intended use with the observable building and site conditions within the agreed level of review.
- 04
Test the fit
Develop the commissioned diagrams, test fit, site study, massing, or other work needed to make the question specific.
- 05
Record findings + next steps
Distinguish what the study supports, what remains open, who should address it, and what scope would follow if the project continues.
Project evidence
One narrow lot. A specific test.
The project record states exactly what was studied and what has not been represented.
Proposed / Feasibility + concept design
13 Arlington
A 4,174-square-foot, two-story study for a vacant 25 × 115-foot industrial lot in Kearny. It tests flex/industrial space at grade, office above, access, frontage, and identified bulk relief. No approval, permit, construction, or completion is represented.
Read the project recordDecision guide / New Jersey industrial property
Records to request before leasing or buying
A source-backed guide to approvals, occupancy records, drawings, building systems, environmental history, and flood data. The guide explains what to request; it does not replace review of a specific property.
Read the decision guideWhat the study is not
Feasibility is not approval.
Architectural due diligence is limited to the documents, access, observations, assumptions, date, and services stated in the agreement and findings. It does not reveal concealed conditions or establish the accuracy of information supplied by others.
It is not a survey, title review, environmental assessment, specialty engineering report, cost guarantee, legal opinion, municipal approval, permit, or certification of code compliance unless that work is expressly included and performed by the appropriate qualified party.
Start a review
Bring the address and the decision date.
Share the intended use, current stage, available records, site access, and the question that must be answered next.
Prepare a project brief