Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Why hasn't my space leased? A Landlord's Guide

Why isn't my commercial space leasing? A Landlord’s Guide

I have been leasing commercial space for the last 10 years. In fact the first couple of years in the commercial real estate business, that’s all I did. I have sat on the tenant rep and the landlord rep side of the table hundreds of times while negotiating on 500 square foot suites to 160,000 square foot call centers.  During the last 10 years I've picked up a couple of things along the way. Here are some reasons landlords struggle to lease space:

1)      Price is too high. This sounds pretty self-explanatory, but is quite common. In today’s digital world potential tenants can figure out over the lunch hour on their smart phone what the market is in a given parameter. Spaces that are simply overpriced often do not get the attention they deserve and take much longer to lease.
2)      The space shows poorly. I see it all too often; good location, good building, vacant suite is in bad condition. Dated carpet, wet and moldy ceiling tiles, scuffed walls, weeds in the parking lot, uncared for landscaping can all contribute to limited market activity.
3)      Location. As buildings age and neighborhoods change, sometimes what was a good location morphs into an average location or worse. Sometimes developers get ahead of the market and wait a year or so longer than they expected to fill space.

If you are struggling with any of these issues give me a call.

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