Most real estate decisions are treated as transactions. A deal happens, a lease gets signed, a broker collects a commission. We treat them as advisory engagements — where the objective is the client’s long-term outcome, not the transaction itself.
A broker closes a deal and moves on. An advisor stays engaged — through the lease term, through the renewal, through the business’s next phase.
Every engagement follows the same four-step framework. Structured to reduce risk, improve clarity, and create real negotiating leverage at every stage.
Every real estate requirement is a symptom of a business condition. Before we survey a single property, we document the business context: operational requirements, headcount projections, financial constraints, growth trajectory, and the specific reason the real estate decision is on the table. The decisions that follow are anchored to what this step produces.
Asking rent is the start, not the answer. We model total occupancy cost — base rent, operating expenses, escalations, concession value, buildout — over the full lease term for every option on the shortlist. The rate a landlord quotes has a very different number attached to it once the full economics are modeled.
Tenants arrive at the negotiating table with varying amounts of natural leverage. We engineer more of it. Multiple properties in active negotiation through LOI. Competing landlord commitments on the table simultaneously. Market data that challenges the landlord’s opening position. Leverage gets the client a better deal — and then gets them a better deal on top of that deal.
LOIs set direction. Leases create obligation. Negotiating the LOI is necessary, but what the client actually signs — and lives with for the term — is the lease. We manage the transaction through lease documentation, coordinate legal and construction advisors, and remain engaged through commencement and occupancy.
Most brokers disappear after commission. We don’t. The most valuable work often happens years after the initial lease — at renewal time, during expansion, at early surrender, when the business pivots. Our job is to be the occupier’s real estate advisor for the long term, not a transaction partner for a single deal.
Examples of what that looks like: tracking lease expirations across a portfolio and initiating renewal strategy 18 months before term-end. Modeling whether expansion into adjacent space is cheaper than relocation. Negotiating early surrender when a business pivot changes the requirement. Managing multi-phase transactions as a company grows through different facility sizes.
Three industrial leases across nine years of growth. Early surrender negotiated when the business pivoted.
Read the Case →Luxury AV showroom originally searching for flex space. Demographic analysis redirected the search to retail. Franklin identified as optimal submarket. Seven months free rent secured.
Read the Case →Off-market owner-user acquisition negotiated below initial valuation. Direct owner outreach eliminated competing buyers from the process entirely.
Read the Case →The process scales acress every asset class. The discipline doesn’t change. Schedule a conversation and we’ll walk through how it applies to your specific situation.