Development and Leasebacks

  Increasingly, real estate has been viewed as a financial asset and is now an integral tool in corporate financial planning.  In the last 10 years, corporations have increasingly focused upon their alternatives regarding continued ownership of real estate.  In many cases, corporations own their real estate outright or have high levels of equity tied up in their real estate – assets which could be put to substantially better use and generate higher returns on capital if reinvested back into the corporation’s mainstream businesses.  With this recognition, corporations seek out investors who would purchase the real estate and then lease it back to the corporation under long-term leases, thus preserving corporate control and use of the asset while freeing up equity in the process.

Just as the sale-leaseback works effectively for current corporate assets, it can also work just as effectively in new acquisitions and developments.  In these cases, the corporation avoids major capital commitments to real estate, yet still achieves the same long term control and use of assets.  Thus, a corporation may elect to retain a developer to acquire and rehab an existing building or develop a new greenfield site on a build-to-suit basis.  The developer brings expertise and both debt and equity financing to the table, while the corporation brings a long term lease to the table, resulting in a "win-win" for both parties.

The Commercial In-Sites team is experienced and capable of structuring relatively sophisticated sale-leaseback, acquisition leaseback and development-sale-leaseback transactions.  These transactions can take on infinite variations involving master leases, joint ventures, and future options, and are subject only to the creativity and experience of the participants in structuring transactions which satisfy the objectives of each party.  We will perform the economic analyses, evaluate the alternatives, structure the transaction, help secure equity and debt financing as needed, and coordinate the entire process.