The Process and Tactics:
The initial meeting with the executive team revealed their desire to relocate to Downtown Minneapolis. We knew that we needed more than 60 days to identify available vacancies, tour competitive options, negotiate lease terms, and construct its long-term solution for its office space. Furthermore, in just two months, Gravity was facing a “Holdover” lease issue that would cause their monthly rent to double. CTA identified ten acceptable downtown alternatives, toured six of them, and requested Proposals from four…all within a week. Simultaneously, we engaged the current [Bloomington, MN] Landlord in negotiations in order to generate the time needed to complete a downtown lease, construction, and relocation. Once the selected properties were scrutinized, the Gravity team identified two alternatives that met their goals. Knowing that the Landlords would all likely learn of each other, CTA proactively created a competitive lease negotiation environment and began negotiating diligently with all three Landlords.
The Results:
We successfully negotiated with all three competitive-set Landlords, and in a very short period of time. We were also successful to secure a month-to-month tenancy with the Bloomington Landlord at no additional cost. This provided the time necessary to finalize the lease terms at the chosen property, complete architectural drawings, and construct the premises. We negotiated lease terms that were a 42% discount from the Landlord’s original offer, which includes free rent and other concessions. In fact, the terms are so aggressive that the lease document contains a Confidentiality Agreement to prevent us from promoting the discounted terms to our other tenant-clients.
The executives at Gravity Global call us “Rock Stars”…we like to call ourselves “The Tenant’s Edge”.
The Challenge:
Gravity Global is an International creative branding and marketing agency that works with companies to create solutions that promote their brands. They were located in a Class A office building in Bloomington along the I-494 “hospitality strip”. While the location was convenient to the Airport and Mall of America, it was not a good location for Gravity’s creative business partners, and some of its major clients. They needed to find a new, downtown Minneapolis location, and in a very short period of time.