Economic or Operational Changes Prompt Changes in Space Use

Your company is enduring changes to its economics (good or bad), and/or real estate costs have escalated to be too costly; either are affecting operations. The business is either growing or retracting and margins are flat or thinning too much. Payroll, FF&E, and real estate costs are being reviewed. If change could be required, now is the time to determine how, when, and how much it will cost to implement. This is the best time to take a detailed financial and qualitative review of your business operations for the next 12, 36 and 60 months. Assess the occupancy cost ratio and identify options to accommodate the changes you’re enduring.  Corenet Global makes note of the following that influences how your real estate services provider performs on your company’s behalf (CND, n.d.).  “Corporate Real Estate Services must support the corporation’s business plans and metrics, which are in a constant state of dynamic change. 

MF global teamStaffing. If your staffing needs are changing, will you have too much or too little space to seat them? Approx 100sf per person is ample (executives may need a bit more), plus 20-25% for people movement. Lease office space so you reach your occupancy limit at about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through the term (Smith, 2017, Feb. 27). Leasing too much space and cash flow can be hobbled by an excessive rent payment and under-utilized space, too little space and staffing growth will be limited (Fennie, 2005, Jan). Space issues affecting 20 or more permanent staff are cause to re-evaluate space needs. Your COO should be guided by a space planner about the carpetable space optimal to meet staffing and workflow needs.

finan-modelingOccupancy Cost Ratio (OCR): Ratio of Real Estate Costs to Revenue.  Your real estate services provider carries out a strategy to position real estate assets to increase productivity while decreasing occupancy costs (CNG, n.d.).  (OCR)The rent to sales (revenue) ratio (a/k/a Occupancy Cost Ratio) measures the impact of the cost of leasing commercial real estate space (Smith, 2015, April 23). Measure with gross space costs in mind (e.g. rent, additional rent, utilities, CAM). Space too small could inhibit production capacity and revenue growth. Space too big could be cutting margins enough to prompt cost cutting. Your COO and CFO should be collaborating to identify the correct amount of space to foster productivity, at a defined OCR.

Cmcl Leasereal-estate-deedHolding Period (Lease or Owned). How are business cycles affecting the holding period for space taken? Holding period is affected by the location needed to operate from, projected annual revenue, staffing costs, and the FF&E needed for production. Ensure your tenant rep and real estate attorney collaborate to negotiable acceptable exit clauses from leased space. Owned property should include space to rent until needed or vacant land to expand the building footprint and height as needed.

Ofc Flr PlanFlexibility of Space. The three items above will affect how flexible your space should be. The office landscape as we know it is changing and the mobile working revolution is helping third spaces race to the top of wish lists (Moufarrige, 2018, Jan 30). Flexibility translates into expansion or contraction clauses in your lease, buying a building larger than is needed to expand into, or buying the right size building with extra land to build on later. Expansion space can be delineated and rented until recapture is needed. Commercial real estate landlords should already be thinking about offering more flexibility, more amenity, more community and a customer service experience to avoid empty or underused real estate (Moufarrige, 2018, Jan 30). In general, technology companies, that are often open long hours, are pushing the collaborative, flexible and sustainable work environment into other industries rapidly. It’s decreasing the amount of space per person and how flexible space design is.

Obs Ofc SpOpenSpace-crop-1600-900Condition of Space. If the business is operating from a space for more than 10 years, it may be becoming obsolete (design, function, technical, aesthetics) because workflow, market dynamics and work culture have matured. It’s not uncommon for established companies to move to position productivity for the next 10-15 years ahead.

 

 

Corp AdvisorSteering Committee. The COO should call a meeting of department heads or managers to identify how space and its costs are affecting daily operations. A lead time of two weeks or so should be sent out for the meeting to enable participants to assemble facts and qualitative content of the meeting’s agenda. The meeting should be substantive, honest, reveal facts and subtle chatter about space use. Once facts are shaped to paint a tangible picture of space status, it’s recommended to hire a space planner to assess the space, then draft a 3D plan of what new space could look like; a timeline to build and buildout costs should be estimated. Decision support for your COO, CFO, and CEO should come from the steering committee. The space secured for use is decided upon and signed for by the CEO and COO. The CFO guides them how occupancy costs and expenses will affect financial statements and tax returns.

 

To recap, successful space changes occur through careful evaluation and preparation to begin a space search.  The mission of your real estate services provider is to support the corporation and its business units to provide employees with the most effective, efficient workplace possible (CNG, n.d.).  You’re likely to get the acquisition terms your business needs by guiding your endeavor with objectives for the space change. It’s essential that your real estate services provider aligns their strategy and approach with corporate business operational strategy, thereby ensuring that real estate brings value to the enterprise (CNG, n.d.).  If your COO is interested in evaluating options to change the commercial space for the business, please ask your COO to fill out “Request a Consultation” at the base of About Us in this website. Enter “Considering Change” in the subject line, then paste the email signature of their executive assistant the message body. I reply within 24hrs to arrange an exploratory conference call within their calendar. ###

References

CNG (No Date).  Corenet Global, Corenet Global, Retrieved from http://corenetglobal.org/

Fennie, N. (2005, Jan). Space Planning: How Much Space Do You Really Need?, The Space

Place, Retrieved from https://www.thespaceplace.net/articles/fennie200501a.php


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Smith, N. (2017, Feb. 27). What is the average square footage of office space per person?,

Austin Tenant Advisors, Retrieved from

https://www.austintenantadvisors.com/blog/what-is-the-average-square-footage-of-

office-space-per-person/

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Smith, N. (2015, April 23). What Should Your Annual Rent to Annual Sales Ratio be When

Leasing Commercial Real Estate?, Austin Tenant Advisors, Retrieved from

https://www.austintenantadvisors.com/blog/what-should-your-annual-rent-to-annual-

sales-ratio-be-when-leasing-commercial-real-estate/

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Moufarrige, M. (2018, Jan 30). Changes In Commercial Real Estate Are Rewriting Landlord

Rules For The 21st Century, Forbes, Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2018/01/30/changes-in-

commercial-real-estate-are-rewriting-landlord-rules-for-the-21st-

century/#1e2ee32441ad

Leverage Real Estate to Grow Business

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The space your business operates from represents an investment to bring a product or service to market to generate a return on investments through business profits. Founders and leaders of growing companies often begin looking for space alternatives as the business outgrows its present space. Merely looking for space within a budget leaves the business vulnerable to taking ill-fitted space you may regret using and enduring. How to change this efficiently and effectively??? This post can help guide a decision about leasing, purchasing, or committing to a long-term sale-leaseback; focus on the section most relevant to the needs of your business.

View real estate as a fixed, yet flexible tool to operate your business. It must be flexible in use and marketable to vacate, relet, or sell when its no longer useful for your business. (Vacating an attractive space that’s no longer useful for your business (e.g. location in building/on floor, wiring, finishes, cosmetics) could be attractive to your landlord.)

In-lieu of “finding your next space”, “match your next space, investment, or land acquisition to the purpose of your endeavor”. You’ll get an entirely different result; a space used at terms favorable to your business.

Space size and price do not offer enough of a means to compare options to choose from. A savvy Tenant Rep will show you the qualitative and quantitative modeling of how to look at your space options to decide which deal meets your operating needs.

Steering Committee

Corp AdvisorCreate a steering committee to manage the search and secure process from start to finish. They are tasked to establish/shape the criteria for facilities, location and economic planning via a bottom-up approach for the CXO team to craft and fine tune. Steering committee members include the COO, business unit managers, a line manager, exceptional team leaders, your Tenant Rep; other key company members can be copied on minutes of steering committee meetings. Ingredients for space criteria include:

SAM Grid Breg Blog

These physical and financial plans keeps space needs known, predictable and costs low. Space criteria can be fine tuned with the help of a space planner from an architectural firm versed with permitting, and a relocation project manager. Search/secure planning is as important as preparing the space for use. The physical and financial aspects of each space considered can be plugged into real estate transaction modeling applications (spreadsheets from MS-Excel or affordable modeling software such as PlanEASe or ProCalc). A comparative quantitative analysis helps to reveal your cost of occupancy. The final transaction model will serve as a guide to negotiate the business terms for the space. The end goal is keeping space costs known, predictable and low while adding functional operating value to your business.

Comp AnalComparing lease, buy, or sale-leaseback options shows your cash outlays, cost of capital, productivity of staff from space design and location, and shows tax impact. Your Tenant Rep should help you identify alternatives if no space is found, or deal terms negotiated, to match your operating needs. BREG’s review of options with you include how we’ll respond if the seller (and other players) cannot meet your transaction or development needs.

Compare benefits of leasing vs. buying, and sale-leaseback. All rent costs are operating expenses; subletting must follow the legal subsection outlined in your lease. As a lease is the legal right to use a space for rent, TI spent by the Tenant to last the duration of the lease could qualify for depreciation in financial statements. Owned real estate, plus capital improvement expenditures are subject to depreciation. Paid mortgage interest and property taxes are deductible on business income tax returns; interest is higher in the early years of the loan. A sale-leaseback taps the equity and capital appreciation of your owned property, that may need some capital improvements to continue operations. Delegate your CFO to discuss these issues in detail with the real estate specialist of your CPA provider.

Lease

Cmcl LeaseYou can choose to exercise an option to renew, expand within your building, move within your building at new terms, or relocate to another property. Give your business 24 months lead time from 3500sf and up of office space to conduct this search/secure project at a leisurely pace, relative to market conditions; construction (from drawings to move-in) will take six months to complete. Each space considered should be presented in column format, side-by-side, to facilitate a decision of accept, fine tune terms, or drop the space from consideration. This format enables preparing fighting alternatives to secure the deal you need. Overall, this method of comparison uncovers fine points of options to root out the right option for you. Key business term of leasing include rent security, billing of utilities, building rules on HVAC after-hours, building access before/after business hours, expansion or contraction rights, sublets/assigns, terms of early exit. Signing the term sheet of the deal testifies that the choice made from the search process is renew, expand or contract space, relocate within the building, relocate; the outcome is planned and predictible.

Sale-Leaseback

If you own your property and are considering to unlock its cash value from a sale-leaseback, a financial model will show the discounted market value of the property, rent, operating expenses, and how investor’s holding period may affect your rent responsibilities. Tax impact influences your consideration to complete a sale-leaseback transaction (capital gains, rent). An investor specializing in sale-leasebacks can facilitate the process; your Tenant Rep or investment sale broker can connect you and negotiate the transaction terms. Sale-leaseback is an attractive way to remain in your current location long-term, get capital improvements made to the property by an experienced real estate investor, and re-capitalize your business with the strength of your company’s credit and net proceeds of sale.

Buy

real-estate-deedPurchasing calls for placing available cash into acquisition costs, construction costs (soft, hard, wiring), property management, mortgage and property taxes; all other costs being equal if leasing. Considering to buy a property requires quantitative and qualitative analysis. Analysis performed by your Tenant Rep or investment sale broker shows how your investment will perform as compared to placing the money in other investments and how the real estate adds value to the business. Owning a larger building with a tenant(s) could limit fixed costs, allowing for on-site space expansion when prudent. Your investment sale broker prepares a financial model about how the net profit from Tenant(s) could be invested to enhance investment yield. The financial model shows how your cash will work for you, plus net proceeds of sale, projected over a holding period. Factors to consider include physical space, price, acquisition costs, holding costs / benefits, tax effect, return on investment. The financial and physical outcome of acquiring commercial property requires some degree of predictability to focus on operating and improving the performance of your business. BREG shows how a mortgage, tax, utility and economic development benefits will help lower your acquisition, development and operating costs of the property. Each scenario is reviewed to the extent you need to create options to focus on. The report is discussed in layman’s terms to make a choice, giving a predictable outcome.

return on investmentFive (5) Key Factors affect a property purchase:

  1. Physical building and location. What kind of building and layout does your business need? Where should it be located?
  2. Development. Does the building need retrofitting, rehab or is land development your best option?
  3. Financing (including IDA financing). Your credit status will dictate the lending terms you can secure.
  4. Economic Development benefits from utilities, job creation, construction. Location of the business, employees relocated, new hires and how you power/light your property will all help identify the economic development benefits available to you to lower your cost of occupancy.
  5. Tax benefits (mortgage interest, depreciation, property tax abatements, effective tax rate). Property tax abatements, plus tax deductions for interest will be factored into the transaction to show its financial effects on your cost of occupancy.

If a change of the real estate for your business is on your horizon of projects, I encourage you to contact me to talk it out. Test-fits of space and transaction modeling have worked well for BREG clients since the late 1990’s. Please click “Request A Consultation” link in the upper right of the screen. Enter “Real Estate on My Horizon” in the subject line; please include your name, email address and telephone number in the message body; I reply within 24 hours.  Thanks for reading and listening.###

Planning for Change: Test-Fit Proposed Space

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No COO would accept a space layout that fails to meet operating needs. Deal terms alone lack critical information to make the right space choice for the [long-term] operating needs of your organization.  A space planner can create a test-fit of spaces being considered. The test-fit will reveal how your staff seats and flows within the space, and the cost and time to build (permits and materials’ procurement included).  Deal terms and test-fit results give a full picture of space choices. (Note: If you choose to take surplus space to grow into, the space planner should design the surplus space to lease/sublease until you need it (e.g. firewall and locked door)).  BREG’s 7-Point Service includes a request for test-fit into each proposal to lease space.  The following outlines the process…

Lease Proposal

Deal Terms. The business terms of a transaction incorporate your space budget and the legal requirements of occupancy. These terms should be aligned with your search criteria (created by your search committee during strategic planning).  Your realtor is versed how to craft the terms, customized to your needs.  The content of this proposal are the basis to begin negotiations for the space.  You’ll use sellers’s (near complete) counter proposals and test-fit results to compare spaces of focus, whittling to a short list of properties to negotiate for, in order of choice (1st, 2nd, etc.). Always give your realtor enough room to negotiate any final points critical to your organization to reach a signed term sheet. That term sheet will represent the business and basic legal terms to draft a lease or sale contract.

test fit

Floor Plan

Test-Fit. An architect specializing in space design and planning can design a test fit of the space(s) you’re focused on; the result is a roughly accurate plan (in 2D and 3D). Landlords may offer this concession to tenants approved for occupancy; hire an architect when searching for a property to buy. The plan created should show how your staff ‘seats into the space (e.g. private offices, departments, shared rooms & spaces, etc). The architect can advise of a timeline to ready the space for use (e.g. full set of construction drawings, permits, procurement of materials, labor to install) and a rough estimate of construction costs. If a landlord offers a Tenant Improvement allowance (TI) and construction time before rent begins, compare that concession value and time with total construction costs and lead time to ready a space for occupancy.  Ask your realtor to estimate the lead time necessary to complete the search project, from strategic planning to 30 days after the move-in; that estimate represents the term of the project.

XAction Spreadsheet

Lease Proposal

The profile of deal terms and test fit results, per property, positions your realtor to model each deal to compare spaces of focus equally, presenting their findings to the search committee.  This slideshow outlines how BREG can manage your search process, from planning to post move-in.  If you’d like to discuss your plans for a real estate project, please ask your CFO or COO to fill out “Request a Consultation” at the base of About Me in this website.  Enter “Test-Fit” in the subject line, then paste the email signature of their executive assistant the message body. I reply within 24hrs to arrange an exploratory conference call within their calendar. ###

Project Management for Real Estate

Flex BldgActivating an initiative for real estate without carefully aligning it to your objectives and a cogent, time-sensitive strategic plan(s) will set your business up to clean up a big mess that’s expensive and time-consuming. Would you risk your cash (and resources) on an investment initiative without researching the likelihood of it performing? Of course not. A structured action plan that plans for success includes a business case, an impact analysis, activated by a project management framework. BREG’s 7-Point Service was designed to guide each real estate initiative along a tested business process to ensure each project’s success; see case studies in Mayer’s Blog for examples.

strategize-iconStrategic Planning

Executive planning includes strategic, tactical and operational plans. Strategy is a high-level view of a vision to achieve. Tactics are the means to realize the strategic plan. Operational plans are the goals for departmental managers to achieve from deliverables. Your real estate project (initiative) should be aligned to your organizational objectives, realized through tactical planning. A business case and a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is recommended to determine how well the initiative is aligned to organizational objectives. Neglecting or passing-over this step could lead to an unplanned outcome or unwanted constraint, blocking the realization of objectives; fixing that problem creates excessive costs and downtime that materially impedes business operations.

Business Case. Any initiative needs cost-benefit analysis to justify how its implementation helps to meet organizational objectives. For real estate, it defines how an investment, expansion, or relocation effort would meet organizational objectives. Qualitative (judgement per criteria) and quantitative analysis (financial modeling) are performed with sensitivity analysis (what-if scenarios) to identify if the initiative is justified.

Business Impact Analysis. This assesses the risk associated with implementing the change. Is the risk worth the reward, or does the risk bring unwanted harm to the business?

Steering Committee. This group of thought leaders evaluates results of the business case and BIA, deliberating over the reports; an established commercial realtor can answer questions and offer advice. This group decides whether to return the research for more information, reject the initiative outright, or approve the initiative for implementation.

pm-iconProject Management Framework. The content below are the key points of project management.

Project Charter. An approved initiative is formally outlined in a project charter, to be signed by the project sponsor and BREG. The charter represents the goal of the project with which to create a Scope Of Work (the efforts performed to realize the goal), aligned with the scope of the project.

Scope Of Work (SOW). How your project will be conducted with the resources assigned to realize the deliverables. Roles of the steering committee, project manager and project team are outlined. A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) outlines how work is distributed to project players with delivery dates of work completion. Project Procurement is a 5-Phase process to source services and materials for processing to produce deliverables. These two documents are critical to guide the project players along a path to completion, with deadline dates to realize deliverables on time. (Note: a scope statement may be needed for larger projects.)

Project implementation. Initiate, Plan, Execute, Monitor & Control, Close. These five core phases conduct the effort of the project. A certified and experienced project manager is versed with this process.

This framework can be abridged when the project scope allows for it, yet the framework guides project participants along a critical path to complete the project.

Project Close. Project participants may be inclined to part from the project after the deliverables have been met, yet this step ensures all parties agree the customer received their deliverables and have accepted the outcome. This brief formal process reviews deliverables with the customer, seeks acceptance of deliverables, and written consent to close the project. All project participants are informed when the project is formally closed. BREG extends the date of project closure several weeks after the go-live date to identify a punchlist items that ensure the customer realizes its objectives from the project. Then, the brief process of project closure is performed.

Centralized Management = Timely, Integrity, Reliable, Predictable:

  • CAPM BOK to assess project, prepare business case, seek consensus for project, prepare project charter, scope of work, WBS, assemble functional or matrix staff.
  • ITILv3 principles and processes include strategy, design, implementation, operations (support).
  • Daily and weekly monitor and control to fine tune processes to ensure project produces deliverables as envisioned.
  • Project is documented in cloud-based PM productivity app to ensure timely documentation of project progress.

    handshakeIf you’re considering to activate a real estate project for your business, the process outlined above works consistently. If you’d like to discuss your plans for a real estate project, please ask your CFO or COO to fill out “Request a Consultation” at the base of About Me at nytenantrep.com. Enter “Strategic Planning and PM” in the subject line, then paste the email signature of their executive assistant the message body. I reply within 24hrs to arrange an exploratory conference call within their calendar. ###

Industrial Real Estate for Supply Chain Management

Brown-Industrial-Building1A search for industrial real estate unmatched to your supply chain management (SCM) program could be a futile effort.  Imagine operating from an industrial space to facilitate your supply chain vs. one that fails to.  To accurately match industrial real estate to SCM, establish criteria from your SCM program to commence a property search.  (I can meet with your c-level SCM executive to identify the criteria for a search and suggest towns likely to have properties to meet that criteria.)  A 5-point plan and 4-point evaluation rubric can guide both the creation of criteria and the search/secure effort:

  1. Strategize. 2. Design. 3. Implement. 4. Operate. 5. Continual Service Improvement

  1. Strategize.  Identifying how your supply chain and staff operates guides the creation of criteria to commence a search/secure process, preferably by a Tenant Rep well-versed with industrial real estate.  Which of the key points below will fall into your space search criteria?

IRE search crit

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2. Design. Implement the criteria from the Strategize phase into a virtual design of an ideal property; this vision drives your search and secure process.  This list of attributes guides the search – selection – secure effort.

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implementation-icon3. Implement.  CAPM. Plan the relocation as a formal project, run by committee, stakeholders, project team and project suppliers.

operationalizing-the-vision4. Operationalize.  2-3 years lead time is ample to factor in all facets of relocation at a leisurely pace.  This lead time gives your secure effort negotiating advantage and time to revise a search effort if the property of choice becomes unavailable.  The actual relocation effort through go-live date could take 12 months to process.

CCIM logoYour Tenant Rep should evaluate each property reviewed based on the search criteria plus the evaluation model applied by the CCIM strategic analysis model: a) market and competitive, b) site/location, c) political and legal, d) financial.  These criteria are integrated to produce attractive choices and guide the property bidding process.

CSI icon5. Continual Service Improvement.  Before final offers are submitted, arrange a formal meeting of all stakeholders affected by the move (warehouse ops team, mfg team, shipping/receiving team, SCM team, IT).  A thorough paper review and on-site walk-through of each location by these stakeholders will identify which property(ies) fall into choice order.  These staff members are your boot-on-the-ground team/managers who have deep knowledge of facility operations. Their perspective gives your search team valuable feedback on how to proceed with the final bidding process.

The industrial real estate for your business plays an essential role in your enterprise’s SCM.  Precise search criteria support a simple, efficient and expedited search/secure process; any needs for property retrofit are identified during the property evaluation process.  I can help with all facets above, having experience and academics to support it.  If you’d like to discuss the industrial real estate needs of your enterprise, please ask your CFO to fill out the form at the base of “About Me” page, write “Industrial site search” in the subject line, with the CFO’s email signature in the message body.  I’ll reply within 24hrs to arrange an exploratory conference call within their calendar. ###

Acquiring Commercial Space: DIY or Tenant Rep v2

In 20yrs as commercial realtor, I’ve seen many cyclical trends. Until circa 2005, properties were often listed by Listing Agents [specialists] and Tenants were often represented by Tenant Reps [specialists]. These specialty service providers made transaction activities efficient for their clients.


The combination of media coverage about the space market and listings of space in the Internet has made space relatively easy to find and secure (down to 300rsf). Rent prices in densely populated urban cities are not always posted in digital listings due to the dynamics of weekly updates to prices.

Over the past 10yrs, some Tenants/Buyers have endeavored to search/secure their space DIY with the Agents/Reps listing their building of choice.

In Suburbia, a DIY approach may be prudent for Tenant and Landlord (or Seller) for transactions up to 3500rsf. Limit leases to 5yrs to limit your rent commitment and foster flexibility of space use as market forces affect your operating needs. For deals larger than 3500rsf, an exclusive Tenant Rep gives your business a) the leverage to evaluate quantitative and qualitative aspects of a deal, b) compares analysis results of space options to operating needs and budget and c) facilitates competition for your deal through an experienced Tenant Rep. This post outlines why hiring a Tenant Rep is the most effective way to secure the space/property fitting your search criteria at the sharpest price above 3500rsf.

Business Analysis = > Tenant Rep

Corp Advisor(Post updated 01/26/2019) If your COO thinks its time to change the space your business uses, a great deal, in a seemingly good space, could become a (operating and financial) debacle you’ll seethe from long-term. (i.e. bad layout, a long inflexible lease, construction cost/time overruns, poor construction finishes, unexpected extra fees in the monthly rent bill). Blah, blah, blah you say? I’ve seen it happen many times; some clients were referred to me to solve such problems with their space.

A space debacle is avoided through planning – AND – using time to your advantage. When neither of these two elements are used, you pick the short straw and overpay. Analyzing your business carefully, to identify its needs [from workflow] and resources, become the baseline to negotiate the deal that meets the operating needs of your company.

Basic “Business Analysis” questions to ask:

  • How is the business operating today from its space?
  • Does the space facilitate productive workflow for ALL your staff (from baseline workers to C-level executives)? Is the work environment functionally collaborative and comfortable?
  • Does the space layout, location and rent bill foster productivity and profitability?
  • Can your space size change as your business does?
  • Does your office furniture, equipment and phones foster your comfort, efficiency and work pace?
  • Does your lease (or sublease) protect your occupancy rights? (this is more a business term that legal advocacy guides you to secure).

These questions are basic yet with privately held businesses, I’ve often seen little thought, planning and execution done in 24+yrs as commercial Tenant Rep. The best plan to change your space is a flexible one that’s able to make reasonable compromises as they arise. Identifying why your business is failing to meet executive vision, with worker comfort, leads to a baseline of expectations for new space. Let your Tenant Rep interview executive management, mid-management plus a few line workers; the data gathered will lead to an understanding of information flow, what defines a) a comfortable, efficient working environment, b) flexible occupancy, c) a flexible lease, d) sufficient utilities to meet operating needs.

If your business occupies 7Ksf [or more] of space, budget at least 2 years prior to occupancy to address your change vision at a leisurely pace; that puts time to your advantage to secure the right deal for your business (vs. a good deal for the landlord).  A virtual test-fit (1) of your space helps to create a short list of spaces/properties to focus on.

If you agree these suggestions are sensible for you, request a free 45 minute consultation with me by clicking the link at the right. Please put in the subject line “Business Analysis meets Real Estate.”; I reply within 24 hours. We hold a substantive face to face conversation, and see if our personalities are compatible to work with each other. Thanks for reading, perhaps I’ll hear from you soon. ###

  1. Kirsch, B. (2016). The value captured through a faster tenant test-fitting process, REFM, 03/15/2016.