Don't sign a Corsicana lease before the occupancy check

A building that worked fine as a hair salon isn't automatically cleared to become a taqueria or a daycare. Corsicana requires a Certificate of Occupancy before a business moves in, and the time to deal with it is the moment you know you're taking a building or that ownership is changing, not after the lease is signed and the rent clock is running.

Once you apply at the Permits and Inspections office, the review runs up to ten business days. Staff from Fire and Building Inspections look the space over for code compliance, and the Main Street director also reviews it, since much of downtown falls under that program. If the building needs remodeling to fit the new use, you may have to pull and finish building permits before the certificate is issued, which can stretch the timeline well past those ten days.

That's why this is a lease-signing question, not a back-office formality. Before you commit to a storefront on Beaton Street or anywhere else in town, take the address and your intended use to Permits and Inspections at 200 North 12th Street, (903) 654-4870, and find out what the building's history and your floor plan will require.