Bay Area

TenantSee Weekly: A Case for San Francisco

TenantSee Weekly:  A Case for San Francisco

San Francisco: Just 49 square miles of hills, hugged by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, but packed with more soul, style, and inspiration than most cities ten times its size.

TenantSee Weekly: Someone Is Always Applying Pressure

TenantSee Weekly:  Someone Is Always Applying Pressure

Negotiating an office lease is not like most financial transactions. Outcomes aren’t dictated by a single metric—they’re shaped by a complex blend of variables: building class, age, views, landlord cost basis, loan structure, amenities, motivation profile, vacancy, and market dynamics. While experts can project a fair market value using comps from recent arms-length deals, real leverage—and real savings—only emerge through a thoughtful, iterative negotiation process that forces landlords to compete.

TenantSee Weekly: Short-Term Loan Extensions Don't Equal Stability

TenantSee Weekly: Short-Term Loan Extensions Don't Equal Stability

We’ve often emphasized the importance of understanding the capital stack—equity and debt—when leasing office space. Today, one of the most critical considerations is: Who is really in control when the capital stack breaks down? The answer is often more complex than it appears

TenantSee Weekly: Tenant Alert: Hidden Traps in Landlord-Funded Tenant Improvement Allowances

TenantSee Weekly:  Tenant Alert: Hidden Traps in Landlord-Funded Tenant Improvement Allowances

Office lease negotiations are complex, and tenants who lack strong representation are often at a serious disadvantage—they don’t know what they don’t know. One key area where this shows up is the tenant improvement allowance (TIA).

TenantSee Weekly: Subleasing Office Space - What Tenants Need to Know

TenantSee Weekly:  Subleasing Office Space - What Tenants Need to Know

Subleasing is often misunderstood—both by tenants trying to offload space and those looking to lease it. Here are key considerations from both sides:

TenantSee Weekly: The Exclusive Right to Represent

TenantSee Weekly:  The Exclusive Right to Represent

At TenantSee, we only advise clients under a formal working agreement that clearly outlines our role as the exclusive representative, the scope of services, and how we are compensated. It’s a short, straightforward document—but a vital one. It establishes our fiduciary duty and marks the official beginning of our advisory relationship.

TenantSee Weekly: The Long Shadow

TenantSee Weekly:  The Long Shadow

When companies select a real estate advisor, one crucial yet often overlooked factor is the advisor’s credibility with landlords. It’s understandable why this isn't top of mind — credibility is difficult to measure. But it can be among the most valuable assets your advisor brings to the table. Let's break down what "credibility with the landlord" means and why it matters.

TenantSee Weekly: Is ChatGPT Better Than You (Me)?

TenantSee Weekly:  Is ChatGPT Better Than You (Me)?

If you’re a business professional—accountant, lawyer, engineer, or even (gulp) an office broker—you’ve probably wondered: Can AI do my job better than me?
 
As a broker who advises office tenants, I tested ChatGPT in a domain I know well. I asked it for average Class A office rents in downtown San Francisco over the last 30 years, including supply and demand dynamics. In less than a minute, it delivered a surprisingly accurate answer.

TenantSee Weekly: What Tenants See Impacts Tenancy

TenantSee Weekly: What Tenants See Impacts Tenancy

Most of what tenants need to see in order to make smart leasing decisions is not immediately visible. It must be uncovered through strategic discovery and analysis. That’s the mission of TenantSee: to provide the process and resources that bring hidden factors to light. We don’t make decisions for our clients—we make their decisions better.

TenantSee Weekly: What Really Matters

TenantSee Weekly:  What Really Matters

In the business of advising office tenants on leasing space, services are provided by a wide range of firms—from solo practitioners to global public companies with thousands of employees. As in any competitive industry, each firm tries to differentiate itself by highlighting its strengths while casting doubt on the competition.

TenantSee Weekly: AirOffice

TenantSee Weekly:  AirOffice

For many companies, office space is among a variety of resources they make available to employees to help facilitate work.  Other primary resources include technology.  In fact, today, technology arguably contributes more to how work is done than the physical office.  The diminished role of the office in facilitating work has resulted in changes in how companies look to use office space.  One manifestation of this change is in flexible offices, or coworking spaces.  This product segment, having grown considerably over the past decade, is tangible proof of shifting consumer sentiment.

TenantSee Weekly: When the Landlord Isn't (the Value of Options)

TenantSee Weekly:  When the Landlord Isn't (the Value of Options)

We’ve written a lot over the past few years about the capital stack, the equity and debt structures that commonly define ownership of office assets.  We’ve talked about “broken” capital stacks, situations in which the original equity is wiped out and some portion of the debt may also be under water.  We’ve noted it’s very challenging to transact in these assets because the financial partners would need to invest more capital on transactions that would generate negative returns.  In other words, good money after bad.
 

TenantSee Weekly: What's Missing

TenantSee Weekly:  What's Missing

Negotiating office leases is like any other complex financial decision in that more information leads to better decisions.  Yet companies face challenges acquiring the right information at the right time. Why? Because the services typically offered by real estate brokerages are centered on transacting based on site selection and the negotiation of basic rental economics.  This is not enough.  Sometimes, these services (at least) include a level of multi-building negotiation, exercising a degree of leverage, but too often they lack the proper structure to gather and assess critical data, data that will have a big impact on outcome. 

TenantSee Weekly: What Will We Do?

TenantSee Weekly:  What Will We Do?

What if we didn’t have to work? How would we spend our time?  For most of us, this is not a question that has warranted contemplation given financial realities.  But as a society, now would seem to be the right time to begin planning for the possibility of a future in which human labor is automated.

TenantSee Weekly: What Do You See?

TenantSee Weekly: What Do You See?

When you look at an office building, what do you see?  Maybe you see the architecture.  Maybe it’s the neighborhood, the restaurants, and amenities.  Perhaps, you see the views from within the building.  This is what most people see.  They’re all important.  But it’s what you don’t see that matters most.

TenantSee Weekly: How Investor Exit Options Affect the San Francisco Office Market

TenantSee Weekly: Do Cities Still Matter?

TenantSee Weekly:  Do Cities Still Matter?

I grew up in a small town but I always dreamed about big cities.  I sensed they were special places where, given the right amount of drive, the right mindset, one simply could not fail.  Sure, there would be ups and downs, but cities provided access to a robust network of opportunity.  This was in stark contrast to the small New England towns of my childhood, many of which never fully recovered from the demise of the textile mills in the early 1900s. 

TenantSee Weekly: Middle Manager on the Shelf

TenantSee Weekly:  Middle Manager on the Shelf

Our young children, now 8 and 9, have formed a special bond with Lucy and Jack, two elves assigned by Santa to watch over them.  For the past several years, Lucy and Jack have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to our family.  They’ve traveled during the holidays, magically appearing at our vacation destinations.  They’ve even stayed on after Christmas, despite being needed at the North Pole.  Just the other day, I found one of our children covering them in cinnamon (apparently this helps them get their magic back after being touched by humans).  To be sure, their presence has sharpened our children’s focus, causing them to think twice about being naughty, providing a welcome assist on the parental front. 

TenantSee Weekly: What's the Rate

TenantSee Weekly:  What's the Rate

If you look at the quarterly market reports provided by all major real estate service firms (Cushman & Wakefield, included), you will find that rent data is typically expressed in terms of “Asking Rents”.  Reports will cite the trend in Average Asking Rents by submarket, or by building class.  This is a somewhat misleading indicator.  Why?  Because it does not reflect the rent after negotiations, which often includes reductions in rate from the Asking Rate and potentially significant landlord-funded concessions.  In other words, Asking Rents reflect what landlords are asking, not what they’re getting.

TenantSee Weekly: Contradictions in Logic

TenantSee Weekly:  Contradictions in Logic

These days, the resetting of capital stacks (the ownership structures for office buildings) is most often facilitated through selling the building.  The current market sale dynamic typically involves one set of financial partners (equity, lenders) taking big losses to permit a new set of investors and lenders to “reset” the capital stack on economic terms that provide a pathway to success (e.g., a productive investment).