When you own commercial property for lease, the goal is to keep successfully leased 100 percent of the time. This means marketing your property successfully, which, in turn, requires understanding what those in the market for commercial space want as well as preparing the property to meet the needs of those potential lessees. To do so may require you to implement a plan to upgrade your property to ensure your property can successfully compete with other vacant spaces in the market. In most instances, you only get one opportunity to attract a new tenant so you need to make the most of your efforts. Here, the expert team at Perillo Construction guides you through the steps needed to prepare your commercial property for lease.
Step 1 – Know Your Target Market – All your planning and preparation should be performed with your target tenants in mind. What is likely to attract the desired tenants? What is likely to send them to another available property? You need to know in order to optimize every opportunity to encourage them to choose your commercial property as their “new” business space.
Step 2 – Remove Any Red Flags – Take a closer look at your commercial property. Leverage the point of view of your targeted tenants. Are there areas which might raise red flags for potential tenants? Remove those red flags, making the improvements needed to welcome potential tenants and showcase the benefits of your space. Remember potential tenants will be looking at more than one space and yours needs to stand out as a positive leasing solution for them.
Step 3 – Provide the Ideal Floor Plan – On inspection of the floor plan, make note of the outside walls and the common areas central to the building. The larger the distance, the easier it will be to provide a functional build out to your new tenant. The opposite is true when the distance from the center to the core is smaller.
Step 4 – Secure Drawings – Using your as-built drawings will help the tenant build out configure the design as well as connection to services – electrical, plumbing, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) – as well as the ceiling grids, structural points, and floor loadings. Special drawing may exist which indicate common areas of your building including water, sewer, power grids, telephone, internet, fire stairs, etc.
Step 5 – Make Build Out Specifications Clear – As the commercial property owner, you should establish controls on the build out specifications including layout, finishes, signage, and more. The specs, controls, and required approvals allow you to ensure the property is held to the standards needed to keep it in demand in the market as tenants come and go.
Step 6 – Affirm Tenant Costs – Any extra costs the tenant may incur when leasing your space should comply with the present industry standard to allow your property to compete successfully against other vacant commercial spaces. These costs impact rent as well as leasing strategies, and can be used as points in your lease negotiation.
Step 6 – Secure Standard Lease Format – As the property owner, you should have a well-prepared lease form which can add value or speed the lease negotiation process.
Step 7 – Develop a Rental Strategy – Consider the difference between net and gross rent of your space. As you develop your rental strategy, investigate the local market first and then set your range for rental negotiation before you market your property for lease.
Step 8 – Offer Incentives if Needed – At supply and demand fluctuates so does the need for lease incentives. When you face considerable competition from other vacant commercial properties an incentive may be exactly what is needed to attract the potential tenant to lease your property.
Call on the Team at Perillo Construction
The professionals at Perillo Construction are experts in commercial property build outs and can help you get your commercial property ready for leasing to your next tenant. Call today.