Sale Leaseback

My name is Rich Roleck and I am the CFO of Action for Healthy Kids, a non-profit that works to create healthier schools for all kids. We were coming up on our lease expiration and reached out to TAG as they had done a great job with us on our last lease expiration. We wanted to explore our options to see if we could find a better price in a nearby building. We got some competitive offers and TAG ultimately ended up negotiating a great renewal deal in our current space. We were able to get a good amount of free rent and a below market rental rate. We were also able to save on moving costs by staying in our current building!

Rich Roleck, Chief Financial Officer, Action for Healthy Kids

My name is Lisa Bickus and I am the CEO of 1891 Financial Life. 

After rebranding our 130 year old organization in 2021, we felt the next step was to find an office space that would provide us with a fresh look and more opportunities in a great business district within the surrounding area. 

We previously owned our own large building in a great location in Mt. Prospect. We began exploring monetizing the property and moving to a new location that was more modern and attractive to the potential talented employees we were looking for, as well as a convenient area for our current staff. 

After speaking with several different brokers, what stood out to me about TAG and Bill Himmelstein was his responsiveness and ability to explain things in a clear and simple manner. I did not have a deep understanding of how the process worked, but Bill and his team were very adept at explaining and educating me each step of the way. 

We found a great building in Schaumburg where our new space will now align well with our new brand identity as well as provide for the future technology needs of our ever evolving organization. While searching for our perfect space, I was very impressed with TAG’s ability to help find a buyer for our existing property. Within 1 month of listing, it  and at exactly the price they had predicted a buyer stepped forward. We were very pleased with our representation from TAG, and I am very appreciative of Bill. He goes that extra mile to continue to include me in networking events. 

We’ve known Tenant Advisory Group for a couple of years now. We worked together in the past and appreciated how responsive, professional and overall great to work with that Bill Himmelstein and Tina Crnkovich were. We knew we would absolutely turn to TAG again in the future when the time was right. Recently, the time came to re-evaluate our real estate situation, and TAG did not disappoint. They were patient and persistent in finding us the best deal that worked for our business. They initially secured us a direct deal for 3 years, at a reasonable rental rate, with 7 months of free rent and $18/sf in Tenant Improvement for soft costs and a moving allowance. This was a great deal, particularly with the concessions achieved on that short of lease term. However, we ultimately decided we really wanted to take advantage of the sublease market as there were the possibility of some really aggressive sublease deals due to the effects of Covid. TAG was able to get us a rental rate too good to pass up. We got a fully furnished & wired sublease for about 3 years of term, with 2 months of free rent and a $29/sf gross rental rate. This was 37% below the direct asking rates of that building! We are very happy with our new space. 

Jason Maas, Co-Founder and COO at Aptitive

TAG worked diligently on our behalf through a long and very detailed process to narrow down the best space possible for our business. They negotiated an incredibly aggressive deal at the Wrigley building that resulted in more than $3.5 million in savings! This included $85 per square foot of tenant improvement allowance, valued at $1,682,745 and 13 months of rent abatement on 19,797rsf of space with an additional 23 months of abatement on 4,797rsf of the space worth a total of $1,041,795. On top of that, they also reduced our rental rate by $816,626. Not only has TAG been an excellent broker for us but they’ve also been a supporter of our business as they have referred several clients to us.

We approached Tenant Advisory Group to help us alleviate some of the short term costs of our new lease by asking them to find a short term tenant to co-occupy space with us until we were ready to use the entirety of our space. We knew that this was a very tall task given the myriad of co-working options that are available in the market. Despite that, they promptly had the perfect short term subtenant for us. We were grateful for TAG’s guidance and effort as we knew their compensation was negligible, but regardless they spent great time and effort in order to help out a client. It’s clear to us that TAG is a partner for the long haul.

My name is Igor Zhizhin, and I am the President of American Street Capital, a commercial mortgage brokerage firm. I have had the pleasure of having known Bill Himmelstein for the past four years and his company TAG was always a preferred commercial leasing referral for our network. We have a small office space in River North and I was notified by my present landlord the rent was escalating at an alarming rate and I had only four months to relocate. The assignment was very small, 3,000 sq ft, so I did not want to bother TAG with it and as a real estate company I assumed this would be easy for us and we aggressively tried doing it ourselves. Needing to stay in the ultra competitive River North area, after our first three showings we immediately came to the realization we were completely wrong and desperately needed professional help.

I contacted Bill and not only was he willing to take on my small assignment but his team treated us with the level of responsiveness and dedication my other referral partners traditionally only give to large companies leasing 10,000+ sq ft. I could not believe that in less then a month he identified, negotiated, and secured a fully furnished three-year sublease space in a better location that was 18% below the market rate. Every member on both sides of the transaction were incredibly impressed with TAG’s work and even our sublease landlord asked for permission to use TAG on their future transactions. I cannot reiterate how impeccably TAG handled our transaction and highly encourage anyone needing commercial leasing space in Chicago, especially smaller companies, to immediately contact them for an efficient and stress free commercial leasing experience.

My name is Les Kirschbaum and I am the President & CEO of ANI International Inc, an international attorney network specializing in commercial receivables. I first met Bill Himmelstein of Tenant Advisory Group in 2012 at a senior executive networking group. We kept in touch and in 2015 I worked with him to renew my lease. Bill was able to negotiate a great deal on my renewal back then and was excellent to work with, so naturally I’ve continued to work with Bill & his team for each of my renewals. I just completed my third such lease renewal with Tina Crnkovich from TAG and again they knocked it out of the park for me. This time, my building wouldn’t let me renew in the same suite I’d previously been in because they wanted the full floor back. Instead, Tina persuaded them to offer me the same space on a higher floor with some buildout to my specifications and all new paint and carpet. We agreed to 5 months free and they offered an additional $5 per square foot tenant improvement allowance to move. And this was all just on a 3 year term! I’m again thrilled with what the TAG team has accomplished on my behalf.

I met Bill through our mutual connection with EO – Entrepreneurs Organization. I was trying to find a new space for my company, Aura Innovative Technology, but we weren’t having any luck. After having four different spaces we wanted fall through on us for various reasons, we decided it might be best to have a top commercial broker represent us. After partnering with Tenant Advisory Group, we quickly found a space, negotiated aggressive terms and closed in just a short period of time. There were no surprises, hiccups or glitches. Just great communication and proper expectations were set and exceeded. Thank you TAG for solving our problems and making the whole process more seamless than we thought it could be!

Only about a year into our 5 year lease, we realized we were outgrowing our space. Tenant Advisory Group convinced our landlord to tear up our current lease and move us into a new, larger space with no penalties. While we did add more years of term, the landlord paid for a complete buildout to our specifications, and did so at a reasonable price per square foot. We continue to be delighted with what TAG is able to achieve on our behalf.

We met Bill Himmelstein through one of our board members. We have a unique, yet full of potential penthouse space in the loop. The landlord wanted to kick us out and give the space a remodel as they thought they could lease it for $32 per square foot. While also convincing the landlord of our story and that we were the best option for them, Tenant Advisory Group secured us a rate of $22 per square foot, 31% below market! TAG additionally achieved a minimal security deposit and several months of free rent, which really helped our cash flow. We pushed TAG hard and had spirited conversations, but they stood strong and acted with integrity when confronted in these exchanges. They are consummate professionals and backed everything they said with adept research and clear experience. We were thrilled to have them on our side. TAG has since supported our organization and shown a clear commitment to our continued success. These are the types of professionals we like to partner with.