Washington, D.C.'s, chief financial officer is looking into claims made by a group of attorneys that the District failed to collect more than $100 million in taxes from commercial real estate transactions.
The CoStar Group recently reported that commercial real estate sales in secondary markets have been on the rise during the first quarter of 2011. Sales have increased 127 percent in Minneapolis, 108 percent in Dallas, and 89 percent in Denver. According to the report, the increase in interest...
The commercial real estate market continues a slow pace toward recovery, with occupancy rates rising in office properties in most major U.S. cities. The progress is supported by rising employment and restocking of wholesale inventory, according to National Association of Realtors (NAR) Chief...
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...
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg recently joined law firm WilmerHale's co-managing partner William J. Perlstein and World Trade Center developer Larry A. Silverstein at the signing of WilmerHale's 7 World Trade Center lease - the nation's first to incorporate groundbreaking...
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 smaller tenant that's negotiating a lease for space in your shopping center may want to negotiate a cotenancy clause that requires you to rent to a “national retailer.” You may be willing to include such a clause, especially if you're already negotiating a lease with a...
If you're like many owners of shopping centers or office building complexes, you're eager to find new ways to generate income. One solution may be to add a food court—that is, a special area dedicated to small restaurant tenants selling a diverse selection of carry-out or ready-to-...
Nowadays, many restaurant tenants ask to use common areas next to their space as a patio area, where they can place tables and chairs, and serve food. These patio areas are cropping up all over—even in shopping centers. But if you allow the restaurant tenant to use part of your common...
Problems can arise when a restaurant tenant draws so many customers that long lines—often referred to as “queues”—form, or crowds gather in the common areas near the restaurant. Someone could get hurt if a queue or crowd becomes disorderly or unruly, and, as the owner,...
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...
The National Restaurant Association reports that there are approximately 960,000 restaurants in the United States, which will generate more than $604 billion in sales in 2011. For every dollar spent on food, 49 cents of it will be spent in a...
