Universal Robotics, Inc. engaged The Giles Group in 2017 to find and negotiate its first Nashville industrial facility — a startup-scale space to support robotics assembly operations. What began as a single lease assignment became a six-year advisory relationship spanning three transactions, each one calibrated to a different stage of the company's growth.
As the business expanded, each phase required more square footage, stronger infrastructure, and lease structures flexible enough to support rapid operational scaling. When the company's direction shifted from physical robotics to software and AI, the real estate strategy had to shift with it — requiring a fourth and final advisory intervention to exit a lease that no longer fit the business.
This was not a standard tenant representation assignment. Each phase presented a distinct set of challenges:
Phase 1 required negotiating startup-favorable terms — free rent, TI, and rent below asking — for a company with no Nashville lease history.
Phase 2 required securing a facility with specialized electrical infrastructure (600-amp 3-phase power) while maintaining cost discipline in a tighter market.
Phase 3 required structuring a larger, longer-term lease with meaningful front-end rent relief to support the operational ramp-up of a substantially larger facility.
The early surrender required negotiating a clean exit from a lease — protecting the company from years of occupancy cost that no longer aligned with its business model.
Throughout the relationship, the challenge was not finding space. It was ensuring that each real estate decision aligned with where the business was going — not just where it was.
The Giles Group applied its Define → Underwrite → Create Leverage → Execute framework at each phase of the engagement.
At each phase, documented the company's current operational requirements, growth trajectory, infrastructure needs, and financial constraints. As the business model evolved, the requirement definition evolved with it — from startup assembly space to a full-scale industrial platform, and ultimately to a lighter-footprint requirement aligned with a software-focused model.
Modeled total occupancy cost at each phase — including base rent escalations, NNN expenses, TI economics, and the financial impact of free rent periods. At Phase 3, underwrote the full 64-month term to identify the gap between asking economics and what the company's growth plan could support.
At each phase, identified competing properties to establish negotiating pressure against the target landlord. At Phase 1, multiplied the free rent concession and secured a meaningful TI allowance where none had been offered. At Phase 3, moved the landlord materially off the asking rate and layered in several months of front-loaded free rent. For the early surrender, structured the exit as a clean release contingent on completing rent payments through lease-end — no penalty, no buyout.
Managed each transaction through LOI, lease documentation, and occupancy. For the early surrender, coordinated directly with the landlord to execute a formal surrender agreement with a defined release date, protecting the client from any ambiguity about their ongoing obligations.
Size: 6,297 SF
Rent vs. Asking: 10% below initial asking rate
TI Allowance: Landlord-funded improvement contribution
Lease Term: 36 months
Size: 10,599 SF (+68% expansion from Phase 1)
Rent vs. Asking: 15% below initial asking rate
Infrastructure: 600-amp 3-phase power secured
Lease Term: 36 months
Size: 24,480 SF (+131% expansion from Phase 2)
Rent vs. Asking: 17% below initial asking rate
Infrastructure: 600-amp 3-phase power secured
Lease Term: 64 months
Surrender Date: April 1, 2026 — negotiated clean exit
Term Eliminated:
Most brokers close a deal and move on. The Giles Group stayed.
The Giles Group negotiated directly with the landlord to secure a clean surrender effective April 1, 2026. That outcome is the direct result of a relationship built over nine years of consistent, principal-led advisory work.
The company is now working with The Giles Group on its next requirement — approximately 10,000 SF of lighter industrial space aligned with its new software and AI focus. The fourth transaction in a relationship that started with 6,297 SF and a startup's first lease.
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