The situation
A mural on the side of the building: Carroll Shelby's signature and the Shelby insignia, wrapped in racing stripes. Nothing else was on the table.
The licensing arm of the Shelby name, a year after Carroll Shelby's death, with a retail floor to build, a museum being talked about, a co-CEO who was a lawyer, and no builder it had worked with. The building answered to a city that was trying to become a place people drove to.
A builder who priced the wall and nothing more, so the next phase could be a fresh decision on finished work; and a standing with the city strong enough to carry a bigger project later, which turned out to matter when Carson froze all new construction in 2016.
Price the mural alone and never propose a program. Paint it first and let the finished wall make the case to the city. When the freeze came with no exception clause, bring the city a packet about what Shelby would add to Carson, with the record behind it, and go in person.
A 15-by-40-foot mural the city said it would never have approved and told us to keep; the retail store open; the Snake Pit lounge built in two phases inside Carroll Shelby's former apartment; one of the few exemptions the city granted during its freeze.
Read on
The decision and the reasoning
Why we did it this way, told first.
ReadWhat we did and what it produced
The work, decision by decision, and the result.
ReadA slice of the project list
A few related projects.
ReadPrivate side
The full report, the source files on record, the timeline and every figure with its source. Password.
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