Q I'm negotiating with a supermarket tenant to open a supermarket at my center. The tenant owns supermarkets under various trade names around the country, and those stores operate either high-end (high-priced) models or low-end (low-priced)...
Owning a mixed-use property—that is, a building with both residential occupants and retail tenants—has its advantages. For example, popular retail tenants benefit from the on-site customer foot traffic. And potential residents may enjoy the easy access to shopping, services, or...
As finding good tenants becomes increasingly difficult, owners will want to lock down good prospects as quickly as possible. But what happens when an otherwise excellent prospective tenant wants to sign the lease, but can't commit until it knows whether its financing has been approved?
Q I know that under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), buildings open to the public must be accessible to people with disabilities. If any part of the building I own, including space leased by a tenant, does not comply with the ADA, who is...
A retail tenant may ask you to let it use its space to sell certain merchandise and “accessories.” But by doing so, you may unwittingly let the tenant sell many more items than you intend. That's because the word “accessories” is so vague. It can mean almost any type...
If your building or center has multiple tenants, at least one of them will want the unlimited right to expand its space if business grows, and the option to exercise the expansion right at its convenience.
As an owner, you might be hesitant to include an expansion option in the lease,...
In today's stagnant economy, the Federal Reserve is aggressively cutting interest rates in an attempt to spark the economy. The rate cuts are giving property owners an opportunity to refinance and purchase new properties or to tap existing properties' equity for operating capital.
Leases with nationally branded retail franchise tenants can be a real boon to a shopping center. That coffee, donut, or hamburger shop, or the family hair salon, can become a great traffic generator that helps increase the revenues of all your center's...
As a commercial property owner, you strive to maintain 100 percent occupancy with good, law-abiding tenants that always pay rent on time and in full. While no tenant can ever be a sure bet, you might think that a federal agency is about as close to perfect as you can get. Given the government...
If a strong retail tenant has either a performance kickout right or a reduced rent right, promptly audit the tenant's gross sales records if it tells you that it will exercise its right, advises Dallas attorney T. Andrew Dow. With a performance kickout right, the tenant can terminate its...
Identify all of the documents comprising the lease in any estoppel certificate you give to a tenant to sign, advises Arnold J. Kohn, general counsel of The Tower Companies. As an alternative, attach a copy of the lease and all of those documents to the estoppel certificate as an exhibit, he says...
Medical office leasing is a hot market. And if you're like many office building owners, you're thinking about renting space in your building to a medical office tenant. But unlike regular tenants, medical office tenants bring certain environmental risks. For example, you can expect the...
