The Board says LEASE...no.... BUY...wait... LEASE....ok..now BUY!

I was referred by a residential agent to help the local non-profit Progressive Life Center (PLC) negotiate a lease in a building they had already identified. At first I thought they needed an attorney not a broker but after meeting with PLC's board of directors I found they had not resolved the basic lease terms. The buiding was a concrete bunker they intended to use as office and classroom space. After schematic designs for the space and preliminary construction estimates, we negotiated a lease with the owner. The day of the lease signing, the President of PLC told the owner that his board required that they also include some type of first right of refusal to purchase the property. The owner refused, saying that he intended to keep the building in his family forever, and would not encumber the lease with such a clause. We left the meeting with an unsigned lease. In the parking lot I was tasked with finding PLC a building to purchase.

Half a mile away I identified an opportunity at 1933 Montana Avenue, a warehouse owned and partially occupied by W.S. Jenks and Son Company. W. S. Jenks has been a Washington hardware supplier since 1866. I worked with Jenks to convert the 40,000 square foot building to multi-tenant lease space. A contract was ratified, full architectual plans were prepared, and construction bids procured. A board meeting to finalize the sale resulted in a decision that PLC should lease instead of purchase.

The Blueprint For Success - Wish List Converter was called into action. With PLC and Jenks help, we were able to change the transaction to a 10 year lease with an option to purchase. PLC leased the property and exercised their option to purchase 5 years into their 10 year lease. The fully leased property greatly subsidized PLC's occupancy cost and netted the seller $2.7 million for use in a tax deferred 1031 exchange.

All's well that ends well. It is over, isn't it?