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Brown & Brown, Inc. | Syracuse, NY
Size: 24,409 SF
Sector: Insurance
Service: Tenant Representation
Leasing is a transaction no matter your relationship.
The Need
Brown & Brown, Inc. is the sixth largest independent insurance brokerage in the nation. They provide risk management solutions and offer insurance products and services for general businesses, corporations, governmental institutions, professional organizations, trade associations, families and individuals.
Brown & Brown’s Syracuse office was leased from a landlord, who also happened to be a client. The landlord leveraged their business relationship with Brown & Brown to persuade them to sign a long-term renewal at an above market rate. Shortly after finalizing the lease, the landlord sold the building and moved his business to another insurance provider.
The BellCornerstone Approach
Brown & Brown hired BellCornerstone to help negotiate the terms of their commercial real estate lease with the new building owners. The BellCornerstone team remeasured the space and determined Brown & Brown had been charged with using 523 SF of space that didn’t even exist. That “small” discrepancy resulted in an overcharge of $100,000+ across 15 years.
Attention to detail is a key part of the BellCornerstone approach, remeasuring a space is only one small part of that process. There are a variety of ways that a landlord can increase the yield of a deal. BellCornerstone analyzes and negotiates each component of the deal, to ensure the very best result for the client. Tenants care about what they get to use and what their total cost to use it is.
The Result
Brown & Brown learned the hard way that a great relationship with a landlord, even when the landlord is a client, is a conflict of interest. BellCornerstone correctly adjusted Brown & Brown's space allocation, negotiated Landlord's complete renovation of their office, and renegotiated valuable business terms, including future lease options - all while reducing the client's monthly rent.