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When Donald Trump wrote “The Art of the Deal” he became an industry authority figure for knowing or, at least claiming to know, how to make deals…deals that work.

Has anything changed since Trump wrote his 1988 best seller? Yes, a lot has changed. The fundamentals of deal making have not changed and perhaps they never will.

Making deals is one thing…now, however, the renewed skill that is most in demand is how to shape the deals we are making.

Due to today’s unique economic times, I’m discovering there is a big difference between securing signatures and shaping a deal for long term performance.

In fact, shaping the deal may be the requisite skill now in most demand because there are fewer deals to be done and the deals that are getting done require more perseverance and targeted thinking.

Negotiating Breakfast with My Daughter

Almost every day, we are all negotiating something. I did it this morning with my 9-year-old daughter. We negotiated about her breakfast. She wanted chocolate donuts, not one, but two! Once we formulated the premise for the sign-off, i.e., what each side had to have, we then had the core of the deal.

My position was clear. “You cannot have donuts for breakfast.” Her position was, “Donuts is the only way to make this deal work.”
Continue reading “The Art of “Shaping the Deal” – Kid Style”

Bell Road in west Phoenix is one of the area’s busiest corridors. It connects traffic from the metro market and the 101 Loop to the vast retirement Mecca of Sun City, Sun City West and Sun City Grand, Arizona.

When Max Taylor and Company, LLC entered the market with its acquisition of Sun Bell Plaza, Bell Road was two lanes.

Sun Bell Plaza was the premiere gateway to Del Webb’s Sun City and there were few retail strip centers along the corridor, much less the now famed Arrowhead Mall with its renown mash-up of surrounding retail properties that make Bell Road a magnet for shoppers, Spring baseball and concert enthusiasts.

Sun Bell Plaza

Sun Bell Plaza, located at 94th Avenue and West Bell Road in Sun City, Arizona is an example of what I call a “Gateway Retail Center” as it straddles both sides of the main corridor (north and south) at the very entrance to Del Webb’s Sun City retirement community.
Continue reading “Sun Bell Plaza – Gateway Properties”

Here we are again, with time on our hands to engage in a little Commercial Real Estate Road Kill where we can shoot the breeze about CRE. This is a continuation of my rambling discussion about the current “The Tenant Trough” that is impacting office and retail owners.

This was shot while tooling down Interstate 40 between Flagstaff and Kingman, Arizona. It’s all part of a new feature for this blog entitled CRE Road Kill. Stay tuned for more CRE Road Kill.

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Donald Teel is a Senior Associate and Principal with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial real estate brokerage and property management firm, headquartered in Prescott, Arizona. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

Want to know what I think? There is not going to be some cataclysmic, spin-on-a-dime turn-around for small and medium commercial real estate owners. This time, like no other time, we are in a long haul climb up the cliff face of mount cash-flow.

We are in a kind of real estate battle of the bulge. We have too much space (the bulge) and not enough users to quickly alleviate the bloat of vacancies. It is true, we have seen some spurts and sputters, which have caused some to optimistically think and even say, “The recession is over, we’re coming out of it.”

Everything I read, hear, view and all of my experiences at the street level are telling me the battle of the bulge is not over and the trick of trade for survivors is the ability to buy cash flow and to buy it now. Yes, you heard it correctly. Owners need to change their posture and assume a position of cash flow deal makers.
Continue reading “Battle of the Bulge – Buying Down the Bloat”

After a few years in the business, things start looking the same. Property ads read the same…photos seem similar…on and on it goes. Of late, owners have been looking for ways to make their property stand out from the crowd as unique. Here’s another very simple leasing tip for owners of just about any size property of any variety.

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Donald Teel is a Senior Associate with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial brokerage and property management firm. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

We are in an option market…tenants have an increasing array of space options available to them, whether office, retail or medical. My advice to owners is simply; if you are in an option market, create and control your own options.

It is a competitive and nervous leasing market and therefore, it is wise for owners to abandon the “one-size-fits-all” approach to leasing.

Lease program development requires a careful examination of the prospective tenant’s business needs and qualifications. Whether the commercial real estate market is Prescott, Arizona, Tucson, Arizona or Phoenix, Arizona, presenting lease options to a prospective tenant can work well because options are non-threatening and they empower.

It is entirely possible that some leases can be optioned to the tenant where street rate is actually exceeded in years 4-5 of an initial term. In a market filled with vacancies and tenants seeking the best value in exchange for their commitment, it makes sense to offer optional leasing programs, which empower the tenant (let me give you a hint, they already have the power) to exercise the power of choice.

Vacancies are increasing and owners are competing for a limited number of truly qualified tenants. The option approach is another opportunity for economic performance. It will be some time before we can say to tenants, “The rate is the rate…” and have them sign off with little resistance.

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Donald Teel is a Senior Associate with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial brokerage and property management firm. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

Owners are experiencing significant leasing pressure and the market is beginning to pinch their revenue stream. In some cases the pinch is like a kink in a water hose. I’m developing float strategies for clients. It looks like another 12-24 months before we get back to shore. Here’s tip #114:

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Donald Teel is a Senior Associate with Arizona Commercial, an Arizona commercial brokerage and property management firm. Need more information? Please call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

Owning commercial investment real estate requires a lot of hard work, discipline and knowledge in order to create a successful investment.

Tenants come in two forms, good tenants and not-so-good (okay, go ahead and say it, “bad”) tenants. There seems to be no middle ground.

Tenants are capable of odd if not bizarre behavior and often they succumb to the same economic pressures impacting owners and landlords. Pressure can create abnormal responses in any person but when those pressures find their fundamental genesis in the economy, expect surprising tenant behavior.

Stories I have heard or read about lately make some tenants sound like Freddie Krueger…a bad Nightmare on Elm Street.

How to Handle the Next Nightmare. Whether on Elm Street or a strip mall in Atlanta, if you are a commercial owner, landlord, broker or property manager, you are going to eventually meet Freddie and have a nightmare tenant on your hands.

Dealing with Mr. Krueger begins with tenant screening and qualifying. If there was ever a precept that was violated by many owners during the market run-up from 2000-2006, it was qualifying tenants.

However, even after qualifying tenants economic and other factors can erode the performance of any tenant, creating desperation and a propensity to go sideways.

Owners can reduce but not totally control the “Freddie effect” by bearing down on the up-front analysis of the tenant. Controlling a future nightmare on your street begins with qualifying the tenant but it does not end there…read on.

Continue reading “Freddie’s Back and He’s Your Tenant!”

This is a vicious market for lessees. Owners are increasingly finding their spaces going dark as the market takes a toll on Tenants and the economic performance of their businesses.

Many businesses predicate and sustain their business model on the economic relationship they have with their lease. When the line of profitability intersects the economic demands of the lease, business owners are faced with tough decisions…so, too are Owners.

Truly, a lease is a function of sound business planning and, in these days, may prove pivotal with respect to sustaining profitability. Revenue for some businesses has decline by almost 30 percent, a huge and life-threatening decline for just about any endeavor.

My Property Performance Analysis (PPA) was orignally designed to assist owners with assessing their property performance and financing options in this “vicious market” but I am extending it to a new approach that assists tenants with evaluating their lease, lease options and streamlining their lease.

The Tenant PPA looks at a number of factors from the Tenant’s side of the relationship, then seeks to formulate a strategy of lease modification that will prove accepatable to the Lessee and Lessor. Some of the components of the Tenant PPA are:

1. Financial review of business performance
2. Creation of ecomomic model for lease performance
3. Streamlining the lease to cycle through the downturn

Bottom Line. As a result of the Tenant PPA, rental rate modification may result if supported by the financial analysis. The Owner maintains leased space with creative offsets to the streamlined lease that serve as incentives against a space “going dark.” These incentives may include early renewals, extensions and rent adjustments associated with positive market and business performance improvements.

The Cost of Going Dark. Going dark is expensive. Re-letting space in a highly competitive market is costly, time consuming and almost always results in revenue decline when measured against a well drafted lease modification.

When an Owner/Tenant relationship is economically strained beyond the breaking point, our position at Arizona Commercial is a simple one, keep the lights on! In a rapidly appreciating market with vacancies below seven percent, this would not be the normal case. However, these are not normal economic times and the decision to execute a Tenant PPA may be in the best interest of the Parties.

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Donald Teel is Senior Associate with Arizona Commercial a central and northern Arizona commercial brokerage firm. Need more information call 1-877-777-9100 or, if you prefer, you may email Donald Teel

This property is located on one of Prescott, Arizona’s high traffic internal corridors, Miller Valley Road, with more than 24k vehicle impressions daily. These retail/office spaces are accompanied by the national auto parts chain, Checker Auto. Download the flyer.

Three suites are currently available and are priced at $9.50 per square foot, triple net with graduated annual rent incentives and half rents for qualified tenants. Download the flyer.

Owner is offering graduated lease rates with half-rent incentive for qualifying tenants. Download the flyer.

Watch the short video below to preview this property

For more information about this property, contact Donald Teel by email or, if you prefer by calling 928.777.8100. Visit CommercialWebPage.com. Download the flyer.