Malls · Retail leases · Shopping Center · Uncategorized

Just how good was that tenant attorney?

One of our earliest blogs was about the landlord’s standard lease being the best case scenario. Changes that are made to that standard lease are being done at the tenant’s request because the tenants have seen, over and over, how not changing those clauses has impacted their financials. Tenants are dealing with tens or hundreds… Continue reading Just how good was that tenant attorney?

Malls · Retail leases · Shopping Center

Consider the facts behind the stories

As a company, we spend our time making sense of the cash flows presented by sellers. Find where the seller may have overstated the cash flow. Find where they had missed opportunities. Basically, sort out the facts. There were a couple of articles this week that made their way around Twitter an LinkedIn because they… Continue reading Consider the facts behind the stories

Malls · Office Properties · Shopping Center · Uncategorized

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

As underwriters of commercial real estate, we deal in facts. We read the leases, calculate all of the rents and reimbursements, examine the critical non-financial covenants, analyze the prior year cash flows and provide an analysis of the assumptions that our clients have made on vacancies and lease up and Tis and inflation and so… Continue reading Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

Malls · Office Properties · Retail leases · Uncategorized

A couple of percentage rent/gross sales issues this week

This week, we were working on an acquisition of a property in the southeast. One tenant occupied the majority of the property, with a handful of other tenants accounting for about 10% of the leasable area, but about 20% of the income. There was a restaurant tenant that had a unique name that I had… Continue reading A couple of percentage rent/gross sales issues this week

Malls · Office Properties · Retail leases · Shopping Center · Uncategorized

“I need to call in my friend Pete to get some more information about this lease…”

I love the shows Pawn Stars, American Pickers and Mysteries at the Museum. With these shows, they find an item that interests them, authenticate it and then give a bit of history on the piece. As geeky as it may sound, there can be identifiable histories to leases and lease language. Did you ever pick… Continue reading “I need to call in my friend Pete to get some more information about this lease…”

Malls · Retail leases · Shopping Center · Uncategorized

Gross sales/percentage rent considerations when backfilling a department store/big box

Site plan of King of Prussia Plaza from the early 1960s with an Acme Supermarket: Since the 1970s, it has not been common to see certain types of tenants in regional malls as department stores enforced certain types of use restrictions that existed in their leases (often to protect parking).  However, as closures of former… Continue reading Gross sales/percentage rent considerations when backfilling a department store/big box

Malls · Office Properties · Shopping Center · Uncategorized

Red light, green light, 1, 2, 3 …

This weekend, I was in South Bend and Chicago. On the way back to O’Hare, my wife and I had some free time, so we stopped at Macerich’s Fashion Outlets of Chicago. Besides having a beautiful, well thought out tenant mix, they have an outstanding parking garage. An outstanding garage, you say? Absolutely. I am… Continue reading Red light, green light, 1, 2, 3 …

Malls · Office Properties · Retail leases · Shopping Center · Uncategorized

How many expense pools are required?

Over the years, we have worked on 150+ tenant regional malls where the sellesr had been using 3-4 expense pools per prorata expense category, and we have also worked on 20 tenant open air centers where the seller had been using 20 different expense pools. What’s right? As new variables are introduced into leases, the… Continue reading How many expense pools are required?