Retail Case Study

---

Challenge

For 7 years, Jack Kozakar managed major retail store retrofits for Time Warner Cable in Southern California. During this period, Jack helped TWC change their stores from payment and equipment centers to interactive, customer experience centers. Jack provided some or all of the following services for each store: site analysis, due diligence, planning, permitting, team qualifications, team selection, contract negotiation, project management, and construction. Store locations included Glendora, Westminster, Torrance, Hollywood, Eagle Rock, Van Nuys and Baldwin Hills. The projects were very diverse. At Baldwin Hills, Jack built the store in the bottom level of a parking structure. In Van Nuys, the store was constructed as part of a much larger development project which Jack managed. In Hollywood flagship store was constructed in a mall. Each had a different program, different budgets, different landlords, different jurisdictions for permitting and inspection, and different stakeholders. 

Results

Cost – Time Warner Cable is a dynamic company with aggressive budget expectations. Cost savings were accomplished using the following strategies:

Site analysis and due diligence.  

Lease and work letter negotiations. 

Value engineering. 

Aggressive bidding for design, construction, furniture, signage, etc. 

Use of design-build strategies where possible. 

Contract negotiations. 

High level local government relations.  

Schedule – Time Warner Cable’s dynamic nature extended to schedule expectations as well. Often projects were greenlighted towards the end of a fiscal year when funds became available and there was a tremendous rush to get the work done. Jack was invited back to project after project because of his creativity and success in meeting schedule expectations. 

Quality – In many ways TWC’s stores are the face of the company, and now they are a major driver for upselling and customer retention. Resultantly the quality of construction had to be the highest possible, and Jack consistently delivered quality projects exceeding Time Warner’s expectations. 

Success Metrics

Combined Project Value $ 3,500,000

Additional Value Returned to Client

All Strategies - $ 1,400,000

Time Saved -   over a year