Owner Wins
June 20, 2013
Facts: A trust that owned property that had been used as retail space signed a lease with a tenant that planned to use the space as a fast-casual restaurant. The lease gave the tenant the option to purchase the property at any time for $110,000. The tenant spent $300,000 on buildouts.
Owner Wins
June 20, 2013
Facts: A commercial developer sought an anchor tenant for the mall it was building. As an inducement to attract a certain national big-box retailer, the developer signed a purchase and sale agreement with the tenant. Under the agreement, the developer agreed to sell 27 acres to the tenant for $10...
Feature
May 23, 2013
Traditionally, common area maintenance (CAM) costs are calculated based on an estimate of what a shopping center’s CAM costs will be for the year, and the tenant pays a proportionate share of those costs. At the end of the year, the tenant’s payments are reconciled with the center...
Q & A
May 23, 2013
Q: I negotiated a “percentage rent” clause in my lease with a “general store”-type tenant at my center. At the time, the tenant didn’t have an automated teller machine (ATM) in its space, but it just installed one at the front of the store, so that customers can access...
Dos & Don'ts
May 23, 2013
If you defaulted on the mortgage loan for your office building or center because a major tenant didn’t pay its rent, leaving you short of money to make a loan payment, it seems only fair that the delinquent tenant should have to reimburse you for the loan-related damages you had to pay to the...
Dos & Don'ts
May 23, 2013
It’s preferable to not give a tenant a “performance kickout right”—that is, a right to terminate the lease if its gross sales during a certain period fall below or don’t reach a certain dollar amount. That’s because terminated leases don’t generate rental...
Owner Loses
May 23, 2013
Facts: The owner of a gas station leased the building used as a convenience store and the underlying lot to a tenant for a five-year term. The lease gave the owner the option of renewing the lease every five years, with a total of five additional five-year terms. There would be an increase in base...
Owner Wins
May 23, 2013
Facts: A shopping center tenant breached its lease with the owner. The owner sued the two guarantors of the lease. The guarantors both argued to the trial court that they had been fraudulently induced to enter into the lease by the center’s previous owner. They also sought damages “...
Owner Wins
May 23, 2013
Facts: A national sunglass store rented 500 feet of space in a mall. The mall owner’s lease with the tenant required the tenant to pay on the first day of each calendar month “minimum rent, without any deduction or setoff” in an amount set forth in a schedule to the lease. In...
Feature
April 24, 2013
When you need to find a contractor for a major project at your center, such as an ongoing job like landscaping, or a one-time job like replacing roofs, don’t simply hire the first available contractor you can find. Instead, prepare a request-for-proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from multiple...
