A native of South Florida, Glenn Tebbe’s love for water sports ran deep. He saw an opportunity to combine that love with his desire to help others in Indian Harbour Beach, a haven for surfing that also needed kid’s surf coaching. So eight years ago, he got CPR certified and advertised a summer surf camp. As interest in lessons grew, he realized he needed a permanent base, beyond the beach, for training.

He thought he needed traditional warehouse space, but those are in short supply in beach towns. He ended up with a 2,500-square-foot unit at the back of a shopping center, what was leftover once the front portion of empty big-box store was filled with another tenant. That unconventional foothold became the perfect base for his new venture, Pure Water Outpost.

ICSC Small Business Center contributing editor Rebecca Meiser spoke with Tebbe about looking outside the box for locations and the challenges and surprises of building out his store and of the permitting process. The ICSC Small Business Center originally spoke with him in June, when permitting was taking longer than he’d expected. The building permit came through one week after the below conversation, and as of the week of Aug. 19, Pure Water Outpost is 50% through its buildout. The company hopes to open the facility by early November. “Everything is going very quick at the moment,” Tebbe said.

At what point did you realize there was enough need for surfing lessons in the area that this could be your next career?

The first year, I only had six kids. I was new to the town. I didn’t know anybody, and nobody knew me. But I wasn’t in a hurry. I just wanted to enjoy the path. I had a really good summer with the kids, and then the next year, more people heard about it. The camp grew by double or triple numbers every year. After a few years, I had a real following. The community really started to know who I was, and the kids wanted to do more than just a summer camp. Once they finished, they didn’t want to let go, and I figured: People want this. They’re asking for it. Let’s just start year-long training and try surfskating in the off months.

What is surfskating? How is it related to surfboarding and skateboarding?

I was just talking to somebody the other day who had no idea where skateboarding came from. I said: “Surfers invented skateboarding.” The surface [of a skateboard] is flat like a surfboard, and surfers wanted to play around and learn tricks [outside the water]. So they figured: Let’s put some skate wheels on a board. And now they’re surfing on the street. Now in 2024, we have skateboards with a special truck, which is the axle on the skateboard, [that mimics surfing]. With surfskating, you’re training surfers how to move their bodies when they’re on land. It has become huge over the past 10 years.

How did you find places to practice surfskating?

We rented out skate parks, or we gathered in people’s driveways. We’d see who had really long driveways, and throughout the week we met at two or three different houses.

How did you decide that to really be successful, you needed to have a brick-and-mortar location?

We had all these kids and no official place to go and more people who wanted to sign up. I just couldn’t keep training in driveways. I was tired, too, of losing kids once they knew how to surf. I wanted to create a program that could keep them progressing. [And with a brick-and-mortar location], we probably needed a wider audience, so that turned into the idea of a training center. I wanted us to be open to anyone, whether they’re a basketball or volleyball player or surfer. We’d j just cater towards the surfing movements a little more.

What were you looking for in a space?

We needed room to do what we do. I thought we really needed a warehouse with doors that could open wide. We needed a climbing wall, a peg wall, a state-of-the-art surfskate training ramp. But we’re in a beachside community. There’s not a lot of warehouse space available. For that sort of space to happen, we’d have to be located over the bridge and into another community. I didn’t want that, so I started looking at alternative spaces. I thought: “If there’s a big enough space, I’m going to figure out a way to get it.” Across the street from the Atlantic Plaza shopping center in Satellite Beach is one of the most famous surf spots in the Space Coast area. I was there surfing all the time, and I kept seeing signs that there was space available. I thought: “All right, I’m going to go call.”

After talking to me, [Brixmor leasing rep] Claire Howe really started to understand who we were and what we did. She said: “Hey, maybe we could do something in the atrium outside.” It was awesome and exciting for a minute, but it wasn’t what I needed. We could get rained on or rained out. I really needed for us to be inside. She said she’d keep thinking. After about eight months, Claire called me back and said: “Hey, we got this area where nobody’s in in the back. It’s not really a space. We just store junk in there.” So I go look at it. I’m like, this is absolutely perfect. It was a big open area.

Can you explain more about this space?

At one time, it was a big store that could go all the way back like a Publix would, but they lost a big tenant there a long time ago. So they put a wall up in the back and they cut the space. [In my space], there are no windows, no storefront. There’s no nothing. It’s big. It’s closed in, just like a warehouse. There’s only one door. Once I saw that space, I reached out to my sister-in-law in Austin, who’s a designer. I said: “This is the space. This is what I want in it. Show me what we can do. I need as much open space as possible, but I still have to build the bathrooms and AC and things.” It’s almost like creating a brand-new house.

What was challenging and unexpected about putting together plans for that space?

There are no windows, so I had to figure out how to create light and atmosphere. In the ’90s, I owned a film and video production company. From that experience, I learned to create any emotion you want using sound and imagery. I have a big projection screen, for instance, and I can make things shine on the wall like a stage light so it doesn’t feel like you’re trapped in a box. And by playing tranquil sounds like water over speakers, you can create a scene where you feel comfortable and relaxed.

When did you start construction?

They handed the space to us just about six weeks ago. We thought we could just get started then, but once the inspectors got in there, they had 1,000 questions. They haven’t signed my permit yet, so I haven’t done anything.

What’s been surprising to you about the permitting process?

I understand now, but at first I was surprised: I was like: “Why don’t you give me [all your questions and requests] together, and then I’ll give you every answer.” Obviously, it doesn’t work that way. There are a lot of departments looking at [the space.] Then, maybe they realized they missed a question or none of us knew about an issue and we have to go back to the plans, get the engineer to stamp it and start all that stuff again. Every week, we’ve just been going in circles with that team of people, spinning this thing out, getting it back, spitting it back out.

That cycle has been going on for six weeks?

If you think they’re going to sign [the permit] every week and then another week passes, it’s stressful. There’s the pressure I have of the time that I’m supposed to open in the shopping center, and that timeline just gets shorter and shorter. My crunch gets deeper and deeper and deeper. Then there are my contracts. Maybe I’m going to have to start negotiating [with vendors and the landlord] if I don’t get something going here.

What have you learned from this?

Everybody knows each other around here. Even this permit process part becomes a community thing. It should just be me, the contractor and the city officials, but the signing on that permit is like the cutting of the ribbon because as soon as we get that signature, we’re going to run and it’s going to create energy. We’ll do blow-by-blow as it comes together with videos. We’ll have meetings to show the kids what the space is going to look like, and it will create a lot of excitement at the shopping center.

Where do you want to be in five years? Where do you want to be in 10 years?

Five years is the length of my first lease contract, but I made sure I put a 10-year plan in so I would lock in some stuff for the next five-year lease. We know our stronghold: the training, the surfskating, the surf lessons. We’re also going to have classes on things like yoga and breathwork and balance training, but the community is going to tell me what they really want in there. We are going to spend a lot of time listening. Ultimately, our goal is to show kids that they can be one of the great ones. We’ll be successful just by helping some kid realize he’s more than he thought he was.