For 10+ years one of our favorite clients to work for has been Jensen Investment Management. We have served them multiple times in one of our key submarkets, the Kruse Way area of Lake Oswego, OR. This most recent transaction was for their relocation to a new headquarters in the Kruse Way submarket. An 11,000rsf Class A office space. Over the years TMC has had the privilege of doing many tenant representation assignments in this Lake Oswego submarket. Not only for Jensen Investment Management, but also assignments for Cisco Systems, McDonald’s Corp., JP Morgan Chase and Auxier Asset.
Probably the biggest advantage tenants have in working with us, especially in this submarket, is that we represent tenants on an exclusive basis. We don’t have the burden of having a conflict of interest like the landlord brokers do. Exclusively as tenant representatives, we are simply better able to negotiate terrific deals for our clients.
For instance, in our last few leases in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle we achieved very large tenant improvement allowances for our clients. All necessary amounts from our client’s perspective to make the spaces work for them. Turnkey allowances, $50/sf tenant improvement allowances and one negotiation for more than $100/sf in tenant improvements. Part of being a good tenant rep is to understand the interests of each specific landlord. In that way we can match where the landlord might have some flexibility to what our clients need. Currently we focus on gaining significant TI allowances where needed, while negotiating low rents.
Why? In many of the transactions we are seeing these days, landlords are getting much more rent than they received for the same buildings and spaces a few years back. We recognize that many landlords are now more comfortable giving good sized tenant improvements. As they have capital from higher market rents, and their building is worth more. And they want to put back profits into their fine buildings. Being cognizant of where a landlord might have some give in a negotiation and knowing market conditions really helps us provide great results for our clients. And it preserves our client’s hard-earned capital.
TMC is a corporate real estate advisory business that has been in operation since 1986. We provide diverse services like tenant representation, lease renegotiation, operating expense reductions, and project management of tenant improvement buildouts. We are grateful to serve great companies like Jensen Investment Management. And with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest we are uniquely located to assist clients throughout the West Coast.