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Even before the pandemic, shopping center tenants were insisting on the right to terminate their lease in the event the anchor tenant leaves. Giving in to these demands may be unavoidable when tenants are a part of a national chain or otherwise enjoy negotiating leverage. But you should also impose reasonable restrictions so that an anchor’s departure doesn’t cause a mass exodus that turns your shopping center into a ghost town.
In these uncertain times, securing rock solid assurances against tenant default is of paramount importance. The challenge is great. COVID-19 has left many tenants strapped for cash and unable to scrape together a security deposit. As a result, landlords are having to ask for third-party guaranties from tenants’ corporate owners and affiliates.
The size, look, style, and content of the exterior signs listing a building’s name and tenants can have a significant impact on not only a property’s marketability and curb appeal but also on the landlord’s image and reputation. That’s why landlords should seek to negotiate and include appropriate lease language ensuring them control over placement of exterior signage at the property. Here are the five things to include, along with a Model Lease ...
In this era of post-COVID-19 uncertainty, commercial tenants are increasingly reluctant to lock themselves into spaces of fixed dimensions over the entire lease term. Their driving imperative is flexibility. In the early days of the pandemic, as telecommuting shrank the need for space, flexibility largely meant the ability to contract. Now that employees are returning to work, many tenants are now seeking to expand their space. In addition, tenants that signed long-term...
Nontraditional, short-term stores have been popping up in malls, shopping centers, department stores, and other retail settings for over a decade. While generally less desirable than long-term tenants, pop-ups offer landlords the opportunity to pocket extra cash on vacant or non-rent-generating space. Because they usually have a smaller set-up, pop-up tenants can also pay more per square foot than conventional tenants, especially if they’re associated with nationa...
Physician practices, pathology labs, ambulatory surgery centers, clinics, and other medical providers need commercial space to lease. To obtain it, they’re willing to go not only to offices but also malls, retail outlets, and other nontraditional properties. All of this creates new opportunities for landlords. But it also creates new challenges. Leasing to medical tenants raises unique issues for which standard lease forms are ill-equipped. Here’s a look at ...
During the pandemic, some of your tenants may have abandoned their office space to work from home, leaving the premises fully or partially furnished. Now that the leasing market is returning to something approaching normal, leasing these furnished offices may prove to be a windfall for your business. The problem is that many, if not most standard office leases are designed for leasing unfurnished space.
New York State has become something of a national laboratory of commercial leasing litigation testing the rights of retail and restaurant tenants that couldn’t meet their lease rental obligations due to COVID-19 shutdowns. A brand-new case brought by upscale retailer Hugo Boss is particularly compelling because it involves most of the leading theories for COVID-related rent relief. Your assignment: Figure out which, if any, of those theories the court found...
Throughout the course of this pandemic, landlords have found all kinds of creative ways to support COVID-19-strapped tenants who can’t pay rent. When the history is written, it is likely to show that working together to find mutually workable solutions was, in fact, the most effective approach.