If you have been reading my blogs you know that I often offer my thoughts on the ins and outs of important lease clauses. Subleasing, Transfer and Assignment rights are typically handled in the same clause and are very important to the flexibility of any lease.  Multiple concepts are covered in the Sublease & Assignment...Read More

It seems like every real estate conference or association “state of the market” event that I attend these days has an overriding theme.  All of the money (Equity and Debt) is focused on Core Urban Environments.  I have even written about the dynamic myself in a recent blog entitled Capital and Workplace Strategies Collide.  Many...Read More

One of the most under-negotiated clauses in leases is the paragraph dealing with Use.  In general, when a landlord prepares a lease it limits the use as much as possible (i.e. “Legal Offices” or “Italian Restaurant”).  However, tenants should always try to negotiate the broadest use clause possible.  The reason for this is that business...Read More

I recently attended the NAIOP Capital Markets Review in Newport Beach California.  It was your typical Moderator / Panelist format with Mark Gibson off HFF leading the discussion among 3 large commercial property owners (Donald Akeny of Westcore Properties, Christopher Chee of The Blackstone Group, Bleeker Seaman III of Lowe Enterprises) rounded off by Allen...Read More

I get asked a lot of questions about real estate, but one question never stops coming.  It is asked by my clients, tenants I meet with, and other brokers in my office, “Should I get an allowance and build out my own space or should I just have the landlord build it?”  It is a...Read More

I read an article in the Harvard Business Review this morning (http://t.co/q61tlJ07) . It talked about how most big corporations are miserable at innovating. Other than a few bright spots like the Silicon Valley, where tech is driving commercial real estate demand, it seems like many areas just don’t have an economic engine to pull them out...Read More

I met with a client today who’s business has continually expanded over the last 10 years.  They have been smart and deliberate about planning for expansion.  Each time they have leased space and/or expanded they have been able to negotiate (in order of preference) a Right of First Offer (ROFO), Right of First Refusal (ROFR)...Read More

California adopted Proposition 13 in 1978. The initiative was politically charged and was called the Peoples Initiative to Limit Property Taxes.  It limited the amount of the property tax percentage that could be assessed as well as the amount property taxes (2% per year).  It is a subject that a book could be written about as it...Read More

I can hear it already, “John, really?  Couldn’t you have picked a really tantalizing subject, instead of Operating Expenses and Tax Pass throughs for your first blog?”  I know, it seems mundane, but the fact is that reading this will SAVE you MONEY! Multiple terms are negotiated in a lease that affect cost, but rent...Read More