Don't be surprised when a new tenant that has decided to rent office building or shopping center space from you wants to make requests early in the lease negotiating process. Typically, tenants make these requests in a letter of intent (LOI), a document that's signed by the tenant and...
Conduct an Internet search for “creative leasing ideas” for retail properties, and you'll see a lot of references to leasing to nontraditional uses, such as libraries and community art galleries, or exploiting pop-up store...
Effectively managing snow and ice accumulations is a critical component of maintaining commercial properties in a safe condition. Whether you're the owner of a large commercial property with sufficient in-house personnel and the appropriate equipment necessary to do your own snow removal, or...
As a retail property owner, you know that the success of your strip mall or shopping center largely depends on the mix of tenants you rent space to. Tenant synergy—that is, stores functioning together to draw shoppers that a center normally wouldn't capture without them as a group...
Two types of repair covenants are standard provisions in almost all commercial leases. One type of repair covenant specifies what a tenant is required to do to maintain and repair its space while the lease is ongoing. The second type of repair covenant specifies what condition the space...
We are seeing an increase in cases in which building owners that have not previously leased space to the government find themselves landlords to federal government tenants, either by acquiring a foreclosure property with a government...
Traditionally, renting space to kiosks—small, independent stands that sell merchandise—has been a low-maintenance and relatively hassle-free way of supplementing shopping center profits—if it's done correctly. And, for the last two seasons, pop-up tenants—temporary...
Requiring tenants to give you a security deposit before moving into the office building or retail space you own can help protect you if you later can't collect rent from them or need to pay the cost of repairing damage they may have caused. But depending on a security deposit to give you...
Developing a shopping center in phases may be a good option for you if you want to begin the project even when conditions for the whole development of it are incomplete. “Phasing” allows you to construct one phase after you get commitments from tenants that they'll lease space in...
Two measurements—of the “rentable area” and the “usable area”—of office building space are critical because they are used to calculate the “load factor”—the percentage of the space that is not usable by tenants. Together, the rentable area,...
A commercial lease with a food service tenant presents unique challenges that typical retail leases don't. For example, in addition to common retail lease terms, such as exclusive use and common area maintenance (CAM) provisions, you must carve out your right to control additional factors...
