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Industry FundamentalsLast reviewed May 2026

Shell vs. finish (critical vocabulary for tenant projects)

Cold/gray shell — a bare building: structure, exterior, roof, maybe stubbed utilities. No interior. Vanilla shell / vanilla box — a shell with basic interior: finished walls, basic HVAC, lighting, res

  • Cold/gray shell — a bare building: structure, exterior, roof, maybe stubbed utilities. No interior.
  • Vanilla shell / vanilla box — a shell with basic interior: finished walls, basic HVAC, lighting, restrooms, ready for a tenant's finish-out.
  • Tenant improvement / tenant finish-out (TI) — building out the interior of a leased space for a specific tenant (the bulk of medical/dental/office/retail interior work).
  • Ground-up — building the entire structure new from the dirt.

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