Salon Boutique is a national luxury salon suite operator with more than 30 locations across the United States. The company converts large-format retail space into individually designed, private salon suites leased to independent stylists and beauty professionals on a weekly basis. Expanding into Middle Tennessee required identifying retail centers capable of supporting significant interior reconfiguration — and landlords willing to fund it.
The Giles Group represented Salon Boutique across three Middle Tennessee locations. The relationship began with an initial Franklin engagement in 2019, co-led with the firm's original lead broker. Following that broker's retirement, The Giles Group took over the client relationship and subsequently led the assignments at Streets of Indian Lake in Hendersonville and Stones River Town Centre in Murfreesboro independently. Each engagement was a multi-party negotiation requiring approximately one year from first offer to executed lease.
Salon Boutique's business model creates a unique set of real estate challenges that most retail tenants do not face:
The buildout is extensive. Converting open retail space into 30+ individual luxury suites requires significant structural, plumbing, and electrical work. Construction timelines are long and permit-dependent.
The company generates zero revenue until buildout is complete. Every day of occupancy cost before opening directly reduces the economics of the location.
Landlords are often reluctant. Suite subdivision and specialized infrastructure are not standard retail improvements. Many landlords resist the scope or want to limit their contribution.
The lease structure must reflect the business model. A salon suite operator needs economics aligned with a ramp-up period — not a standard retail commencement structure.
The Hendersonville and Murfreesboro engagements both involved asking rates that significantly exceeded what the client’s business model could support. Each required negotiation of construction periods, free rent, and improvement contributions — against mixed ownership structures with lease terms extending 15 years.
The Giles Group applied its Define → Underwrite → Create Leverage → Execute framework across the Hendersonville and Murfreesboro assignments — the two engagements led independently following the transition from the firm’s original lead broker. The same framework had been applied to the earlier Franklin engagement in 2019.
Documented the client's operational requirements in detail — suite count, plumbing infrastructure, electrical load, buildout timeline, and the financial model driving location economics. Established the maximum occupancy cost the business model could support before a location became unprofitable.
Modeled total occupancy cost across both markets, including base rent escalations over the full 15-year term, NNN expenses, buildout cost, and the revenue impact of the construction and free rent periods. Identified the gap between landlord ask and client budget at each location.
Presented competing market options to each landlord to establish negotiating pressure. Structured the construction period as permit-triggered rather than calendar-triggered — a critical protection ensuring the client's clock did not start until permits were approved, regardless of administrative delay.
Managed both negotiations through LOI, lease documentation, and execution. Coordinated TI scope, landlord contribution commitments, and commencement date structure to protect the client's buildout timeline and opening economics.
Size: 13,695 SF
Location: 4107 Mallory Lane, Suite 117, Franklin, TN 37067
Lease Term: 15 years
Year: 2019 — first transaction in the client relationship
Advisory Role: Co-led with the firm’s original lead broker
Deal Structure: Concessions and construction period structure consistent with the later locations (see Hendersonville and Murfreesboro detail below)
Rent Reduction vs. Asking: 43% below initial asking rate
Total Pre-Rent Period: Up to 12 months at zero occupancy cost
Lease Term: 15 years
Size: 13,268 SF
Rent Reduction vs. Asking: 33% below initial asking rate
Total Pre-Rent Period: Up to 13 months at zero occupancy cost
Lease Term: 15 years
Size: 13,441 SF
The rent savings on these deals are significant. But the more important outcome was structural — how the lease was built, not just what rate was achieved.
A permit-triggered construction period is not a standard landlord concession. It requires anticipating a risk most brokers do not think to address: what happens if permits are delayed? On a standard calendar-triggered construction period, the client's clock starts on a fixed date regardless of permit status. If approvals are delayed two months, the client loses two months of their buildout runway at zero revenue — and pays for it.
By structuring both construction periods as permit-triggered with no base rent or NNN obligations during construction or free rent, The Giles Group aligned the lease economics with the client's actual business timeline. The client does not pay occupancy cost until they are operationally ready to generate revenue.
This is the difference between negotiating a rate and advising on a deal.
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