An important component of a lease negotiation is the Tenant Improvement (TI) Allowance offered by a landlord to build out new space or retrofit existing space. The TI Allowance is based on a number of factors: the condition of the premises, length of term, net rental rate, and the financial covenant of the tenant. For existing office space – one that has walls, doors, etc. because of a prior tenant,...

Landlords are experts in managing and leasing their properties. When you, as a tenant, sit down with a landlord to negotiate, you can be certain that they have come to the table armed with information from both in-house and outside real estate professionals. The real estate professionals that work for the building owners and landlords must be licensed and are bound by rules, regulations, and ethics...

When is a thousand square feet NOT a thousand feet? When you are paying for your office space! Office space is leased by the square foot and too often tenants go to great lengths to negotiate the best possible rate per square foot without taking into account how the square footage is determined for the particular building and the specific office space. The Building Owners and Managers Association...

Too often, tenants comfortably ensconced in their office space simply forget about their lease until they get a call from the landlord and receive an offer to renew a few months before their lease expiry date. This is a landlords dream – they have a “captive tenant” that does not have enough time to move. Tenants in this situation have very little leverage when negotiating the lease and frequently...

THE RESTORATION CLAUSE Most commercial leases contain a Restoration Clause whereby a Tenant could be obligated to return their premises to the Landlord in “base building” condition. This means that the Tenant would be required, at their expense, to remove not only their furniture and trade fixtures, but all leasehold improvements including walls, carpet, etc. and repair any damage from doing...

It is always advisable to have an Option To Renew clause written into your office lease. This gives you, the tenant, the right to renew your lease at the end of your existing term. In low vacancy markets this clause can be particularly valuable. Too often we have seen landlords refuse to negotiate with a tenant at the end of their term because the landlord has a new, preferred tenant for their space....

The list below introduces you to some of the more common lease clauses. Keep in mind, however, that every lease is unique and the terms of each lease will be defined within the lease document. “As is” Condition – Premises accepted by a tenant or buyer in the condition existing at the time of the lease or sale including all physical defects. Base Rent – Also commonly referred to as “Minimum...

Amazon will be building a new state-of-the-art facility in Edmonton that will feature advanced robotic sorting equipment. The 2.9 million square foot facility will be in Highlands Business Park,  one of the fastest-growing industrial areas in Alberta. The building has a footprint of over 600,000 square feet but will comprise five levels giving it an effective storage area of about 2.9 million square...

Calgary may see more than a million square feet of office space fallout due to M & A activity

      Calgary-based Cenovus Energy Inc. will buy Husky Energy Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $23.6 billion. Oil and gas mergers typically add sublease space to the market, and Cenovus confirmed that because of the “inevitable overlaps and redundancies in mergers of this type …they have identified $600 million in operating and corporate cost reductions, with a...