Adding a food court—a special area dedicated to small restaurant tenants selling a diverse selection of carry-out or ready-to-eat food customers can consume in a common seating area—can be a great way for shopping center owners to generate income. And it can help extend the length of...
While sometimes an owner’s failure to keep a center safe causes issues, tenants are also capable of actions that cause problems, too. And that’s where arguments and litigation arise. An owner is typically responsible for maintaining the common areas of its building or center, so if...
Depending on the particular synergy of tenants that you are going for, renting space to a restaurant tenant may be a desirable way to fill up space in your building or draw customers to your center. But problems can arise with restaurant tenants that just don’t apply to retail tenants. For...
CRE owners should be aware of situations in which a license agreement may prove to be more beneficial than a leasehold interest. The key factors that distinguish a license from a lease are the ability to revoke the licensees’ use at will, and the degree of control that the property owner...
Rent acceleration clauses in commercial real estate leases are often the subject of contentious negotiations between the parties, and increasingly, the subject of review by courts when enforcement is challenged by tenants and guarantors.
In a strong tenants’ market, you might find yourself fighting for good tenants that help the synergy at your center or serve as a destination spot that will draw and keep foot traffic. You may be forced to offer incentives, like a tenant improvement allowance (TIA) that’s bigger than...
Ideally, you’ll want to keep square footage and dimensions out of your lease or attached floor plan because those numbers can easily become the focus of a dispute. But you may have to include square footage or dimensions in certain circumstances—for example, if you’re dealing...
Many tenants need major improvements made in their space in order to accommodate their businesses. Franchisee tenants need space that looks a certain way, retail clothing stores need shelving, and restaurants might need built-in seating. This will probably be spelled out in the tenant...
Office building tenants with long lease terms may be concerned that their office space will begin to look shabby in the future. These tenants argue that the rent they’ll be paying in the last few years of the lease won’t reflect the reality of wear and tear like peeling paint and...
Commercial real estate lease assignments might seem straightforward for both office and retail space: A tenant that wishes to leave its space finds another tenant willing to take over the space and the original tenant’s lease. And, typically, the lease’s assignment clause will...
If you have a tenant that fails to pay its rent, you may decide to send it an eviction notice so that you can kick it out of its space—and even start the eviction proceeding. But if the tenant pays you some—but not all—of its overdue rent after getting your eviction notice (and...
A prospective tenant that’s negotiating to lease an entire building or a large space may want to inspect the condition of the space or the underlying property before signing the lease. For example, it might want to do environmental testing or have an engineer or contractor check the...
