My wife and I toured some retail spaces for an idea she had about a year ago. One baby later and we had to put it off. However, one of the spaces we toured in Westchester has me puzzled. It was January we saw it, the landlord was eager to fill it. A month after we saw it, the “for rent” sign was taken down and clearly some work had begun. Fast forward to now, almost a year later and the place is still yet to open. They are clearly still doing renovations, albeit very slowly, like molasses compared to the City.
Is this lessee paying rent the entire time to the lessor? Do landlords work out some sort of interim rents while not open for the lessee, typically? I can’t imagine paying rent on a space and moving so slowly to open.
I used to work on leases for large retailers in malls or strip centers. The most common language was free rent from possession until the open date. But there were usually limits such as 90 or 120 days. If it were a smaller landlord, the language might be more lax or non-existent.