Hitting the Curve Ball
February 17, 2016 — As the 2016 presidential race picks up steam, we are moving full speed ahead to make sure our clients meet their first quarter leasing goals. We love the quickening pace and thought this would be a great time to share some of our Moments of Truth strategies for minimizing the time, cost and risk of getting commercial leases over the finish line.
Today we explore curve balls, our term to describe situations that arise without warning in the Black Box of the legal leasing process. Depending on how they’re managed, these can accelerate, delay or kill the deal.
Don't Let Curve Balls Derail Your Leases
Although it’s not possible to prepare ahead of time for curve balls, we’ve figured out how to be ready when they come to light, so the deal accelerates rather than slows down or dies.
Here are some examples of recent curve balls that threatened leases just as we were finalizing them: a pet store lease my client, the landlord, realized was not permitted in the shopping center pursuant to the terms of an existing anchor lease; a restaurant lease for a franchisee/tenant who had not “remembered” to provide the landlord with the franchisor’s lease requirements; a health club lease for a tenant whose water/sewer requirements could be restricted by an impending sewer moratorium in the local jurisdiction.
Hitting Them Out of the Park
Ever vigilant, we saw these curve balls materialize, and reached into our handy-dandy strategy toolkit, mobilizing a collective effort to move the lease over the finish line.
Here’s how we did it:
Step 1. We worked very closely with our client to devise and execute a winning plan of action.
Step 2. We took full advantage of the good working relationships we developed with the attorney and principal on the other side, and made sure everyone was focused and in action.
Step 3. We kept everyone informed about the nuances and tenor of the negotiations as we made progress.
Step 4. We never lost sight of the fact that time kills deals, no matter where we are in the process.