Even as a experienced commercial agent I find these neighborhood lines confusing. Am I in Carroll Gardens or Gowanus? Bushwick or Williamsburg? Crown Heights or Prospect Heights? This map will help shed some light!
What do you do if you own a property free and clear that someone wants to buy, but they can only put cash down for 30% of the property’s value? Before the credit crisis, the answer was easy. They buyer puts down 30% and finances the rest. In the absence of traditional sources of financing, the above question is being asked for every deal, and the answer can be a real problem that often kills deals. But there are still some deals that make sense—in particular sales/purchases of low or no leveraged real estate. In this narrow context, the viability of the transaction will depend on not whether financing is available but, rather, whether the buyer has a sufficient cash deposit (which will typically be in the area of 20% to 40% of the purchase price) to permit the seller to satisfy its existing obligations (including any tax exposure upon the sale).
If you are looking to lease a warehouse, loft space, offices, or retail property, you should be well prepared. Commercial Real Estate inventory in Brooklyn and the other boroughs in NYC is low and it’s competitive. I prepared this guide to assist you on making your big move.
NYC is the home to the most saviest population when it comes to Real Estate. You will never see a city population more in tuned to their own real estate market. Owners of Commercial Real Estate are notoriously famous for being challenging to deal with
To help you navigate through these treacherous waters to lease or purchase commercial real estate, a good broker can be a guide to help you accomplish your goals. In this series I discuss how to identify the traits of a great broker.
So you are looking to lease a warehouse in Williamsburg for manufacturing hoola hoops, you are looking for a retail space to open a underground burlesque, or you are looking to purchase a commercial loft building to create an “Oragami Collective”. What ever kind of business you are in, you are probably looking to work with an agent. But these agents appear to have the same bland corporate portrait, drab website, and bland real estate signs. How do you tell these sharks apart? How do you find a good shark to trust and work with? You cannot tell from their suit, their car, or fancy business cards. There are distinct traits to look for, and once you know them, your battle through the real estate jungle got easier.
As a Real Estate Agent I would like nothing more then for a deal to move along quickly without friction. With that being said, I would never advise a tenant to simply sign a lease contract without hiring an attorney. REPEAT HIRE AN ATTORNEY before signing a commercial lease. Most likely you will be leasing the space for quite a number of years and signing unfavorable terms can cost you dearly, much greater then the cost of hiring an attorney. Landlord’s can sometimes tell a tenant “This is our “standard lease” everyone signs it. Remember the lawyer who drew up this standard lease, drew it up with the owner’s interest in mind.
I will in later posts explore in greater detail, the best way to find a competent attorney, exploring the elements of a lease contract, and how to ensure your attorney doesn’t hurt your deal.
I specialize in the leasing/selling of commercial real estate from 2500SF TO 250,000SF in NYC and surrounding boroughs.
Visit WWW.CTNYC.COM for my listings
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“As long as I pay the rent, I can leave whenever I want, that’s a Good Guy Clause, right?” That statement is wrong, and it’s a common misperception.
A Good Guy Clause is a personal guarantee that protects you when you break the lease. However, typically there are certain conditions that a landlord will want you abide to.
Firstly the landlord will probably make you guarantee that you’ll stay in the space for a set amount of time, for example he’ll want you to guarantee at least two years of a five year lease.
The landlord will request that you also give him a notice that you’ll be leaving the space, so for example he might require that you give him a 3 month notice so it gives him time to market the space.
The landlord will want you to restore the space back to the original condition.
It’s been reported that Sunset Park’s Industry City, which has 6 million square feet of warehouse space geared toward creative tenants, has had a hard time finding tenants. (Not surprising, perhaps, give how huge the complex is.) Butbroker Jon Brooks thinks the warehouse space may have potential as a future music district, and he has started marketing it as such. The manager of Industry City gave Brooks around 60,000 square feet to play with and agreed to fund at least half of the build-out once space was leased to a music business. So far Brooks is in the leasing stage for 10,000 square feet of space and is in talks with another tenant interested in rehearsal space. In his words: “Musicians will have access to cheap rehearsal, recording, production space. Also the idea is to have music equipments shops, music event businesses, in the building as well.” The idea is that the increased foot traffic will also bring in ground-floor commercial space.
The Problem: The lack of spaces in Brooklyn that can service musicians in the city due to high rents, noise complaints, and landlords who don’t want to give long leases.
The Solution: I’m working with Industry City to create a music district in the amazing commercial loft spaces in Industry City in Sunset Park. Owners are looking for new music businesses. Owner is willing to do a complete or partial “Build to Suit”, offer long leases, free concession time. and a chance to part of the center of Brooklyn’s music industry.
Spaces Available: 5,000SF, 8,000SF, 13,000SF
I specialize in the SALE/LEASING of Industrial, Creative Lofts, Retail, Development, and Investment
Properties in New York.
As an agent, I have the amazing opportunity to mold, shape, create neighborhoods. Brooklyn is a great canvas to work with.
For my listings visit www.5CRE.com
Follow me on Twitter @jondavidbrooks
Call: 212-366-0408
Follow @jondavidbrooks
