Flickr Slideshow

I was sitting in my living room with my computer on the same static screen… doing nothing. So I did a quick search and came across this… I’m going to try and find a full screen version but I thought it was fun. Check it out.

Slideshow Generator

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10 Steps to Sublease your Office Space

1.         Your agent will discuss market comparables, competing sublets, recent transactions, market trends, and recent developments in the building to help determine an Asking Rate and expectations on a % recovery.  Consider the following:

-      Generally, the shorter the remaining length of term, the less marketable the premises and the lower the rate that can be achieved.
-      In order to remain competitive it is worthwhile to offer incentives to prospects (or their agents) on “short-term” or “hard to lease” subleases.
-      Is there any contiguous space next door or competing space available for lease in the building?
-      Is the building in high demand?

2.         Your agent will review your Lease, in particular the section pertaining to Assignment, Subletting and Transfers, and any restrictions on such.  Items to pay attention to are as follows:

-           Can you sublease your premises for more than what you are currently paying (i.e. can you profit?).
-      Can you recuperate any out-of-pocket expenses such as legal fees and painting the premises?
-      Is there a provision in the lease that prevents you from subleasing your premises for less than what you are currently paying?
-      Are there any restrictions on subleasing to an existing tenant in the building, or to a tenant in another building owned by the same landlord?
-      Does the landlord have the right to terminate your lease, and if so, on what terms and what are the notice periods? (30 days, 90 days, 120 days?).
-      Are you permitted to “advertise” a rate?
-      What will you be charged by the landlord for their “consent” to the sublease?
-      Are you required to “make good” or “restore” your premises at the end of your term?

3.         Your broker/agent will draft a Sublisting Agreement outlining the main terms and conditions to list and market your premises.

4.         Your agent will prepare all necessary marketing materials.  They will photograph your premises and will require an up-to-date floor plan.  Issues to consider are as follows:

-      When are the premises available for occupancy?  Is it contingent on acquiring new premises?
-      Is any furniture available?  Will it be part of the deal or separated out?  Furniture depreciates very quickly and will typically only command $0.10 to $0.50 on the dollar.
-      Are the following items available: phone system, handsets, server racks, computer cabling, built-in audio-visual equipment, and supplemental cooling units?
-      If your suite has an unusual layout, or requires work, will you offer to pay for improvements or alterations for a prospective subtenant?
-      Will you cover the cost of a space plan for a prospective subtenant (similar to what most landlords will do)?

5.         Your agent will inform the Head Landlord that your premises are going to be marketed for sublease.

-      If required as per the lease, your agent will forward the marketing materials to the Head Landlord for their approval.
-      Your agent will initiate discussions for a potential termination of your lease, and maintain on-going communications with the landlord pertaining to this.
-      Your agent will explore any potential prospects that the landlord may have within the building.

6.         You will need to make arrangements for your agent to access the premises for showings.

-      During regular business hours?
-      Will someone always be in the office?
-      Will you need to provide a key or access card to your agent?
-      Are there any restricted areas?
-      Your agent will get some calls from prospects wishing to tour the premises “5 minutes from now”. Can you give your agent the flexibility to do this?

7.         Your agent will present any Offers and perform any necessary financial analysis.

-      How quickly can you respond?  A very slow response time will often result in the prospect moving on to another option.
-      Once an offer has been Conditionally Accepted we will send the credit information from the Subtenant to a credit check company.  The cost of the credit review is a cost of the Sublandlord.

8.         Once the Offer terms are negotiated, your agent will formally request the Landlord’s Consent. The landlord’s consent is usually a 2 to 5-page document (the “Consent Agreement”) outlining the terms of the consent and the obligations of all 3 parties (subtenant, sublandlord and head landlord).  The Consent Agreement will need to be signed by all 3 parties.  If there is a lot of “back and forth” on the Consent Agreement, the landlord’s legal fees will be higher, and this cost ultimately gets passed on to you.

9.         Your lawyer will need to draft a formal Sublease which incorporates the terms and conditions of the Offer.  Sometimes the landlord will want the Sublease document to be fully executed prior to providing their consent.

10.       You’re done!  Refer to the chart for some additional items you should keep in mind.

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For short term or small office space less than 600 sf click here!

Office Space News

Office rents to plunge in 2009: Report - cushwake.com - Rents for commercial space will tumble next year as a flood of new office space crashes headlong into a slowing economy in 2009. According to Cushman, Wakefield & Lepage, Canada will see a large amount of new office and commercial space come on the market in 2009 just as the national economy probably heads into a recession. Rents will fall in all 11 major urban markets, including a 10 per cent swoon in Toronto and Vancouver and a five per cent decrease in Calgary, the report suggests.
CBC.ca, Nov 26, 2008 Globe and Mail, Nov 26, 2008 Canada.com, Nov 26, 2008

Credit shortage chokes office building boom - brookfieldproperties.com - BPO-T - The Canadian office building boom has run into a wall. Hit by a shortage of funds, many borrowers can’t get loans for construction or mortgages. That means a number of proposed projects are being put back on the shelf to wait for better days. Even well-capitalized companies including Brookfield Properties Corp., one of the country’s largest owners of high-quality office buildings, are becoming more conservative about new projects.
Globe and Mail, Nov 25, 2008

London, Tokyo, New York Office Rents Fall First Time Since 2002 -cbre.com - Office rents in London’s West End, midtown Manhattan and Tokyo fell in the third quarter for the first time in almost seven years as the global financial crisis cut demand, CB Richard Ellis Group said. The total office occupancy cost in the West End was 139.50 pounds ($248.66) per square foot a year in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, down 5.1% from a year earlier. Rents in London, midtown Manhattan and central Tokyo last fell from a year earlier in January 2002, during the last recession.
Bloomberg.com, Nov 25, 2008

Union Station key in transit plan - Union Station gets an expanded role in the final edition of the Toronto regional transportation plan, released yesterday by Metrolinx. The rejigged version of the new 25-year, $50-billion blueprint to ease road congestion foresees an expanded, revitalized Union Station as one of nine “Big Moves” to reduce car use in the Toronto area. Another new Metrolinx study predicts that the cost of congestion in the region, pegged at $6 billion in 2006, will grow to $15 billion by 2031 if the province fails to act.
Toronto Star, Nov 26, 2008

Commercial Real Estate News – November 2008

Brookfield bottom line shows market chill – brookfield.com – BRE.UN-T – Brookfield Real Estate Services Fund reported a third-quarter profit of $1.8 million, down from $2.28 million at the same time last year, due to increased amortization of intangible assets, increased interest expenses and management fees. Brookfield, a major property brokerage services company that operates through Royal LePage and other brands, blamed cooling demand in Canada’s housing market for the slippage in earnings.
Toronto Star, Nov 06, 2008

CBRE Prices Stock Offering, Expects $180M – cbre.com – CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. has priced its new offering of 50 million shares of stock at $3.77 per share and expects to generate $180 million in proceeds from the sale of the stock. The company initially said, earlier this week, that its offering of 50 million shares could raise $355 million at an expected price of $7.10 per share, but that was before the stock’s price declined to $3.77 earlier this week. The shares rebounded Thursday, closing at $5.39.
Globe St., Nov 14, 2008

Toronto’s MaRS project put on hold – It’s one trip to Mars that’s going to take longer thanks to a slowing economy, the $300-million Medical and Related Sciences complex in Toronto’s hospital district. The second phase of the 2-square kilometre project, dubbed MaRS, has been put on hold because the developers can’t find enough tenants ready to move into the 750,000 square foot complex by the completion date set for 2010. Phase I of the project was finished in 2005 and its 700,000 square feet are filled.
Financial Post, Nov 19, 2008

Brookfield fattening brokers fees to lure tenants – brookfieldproperties.com – BPO-T – Brookfield Properties has shaken up downtown Toronto leasing by increasing the fee it pays brokers to bring in tenants, a move that has some landlords screaming foul. The real-estate giant, which has extensive holdings across Canada and the U.S., is changing the commission structure in a way that pushes brokers to get higher rents from tenants. The move by Brookfield, so far confined to Toronto’s downtown core, comes when most real-estate experts expect the leasing market to slow down.

Financial Post, Nov 21, 2008

File Sharing, Iphone Apps and Xobni – my favs

Red Rocket for the iPhone – Only as Good as the TTC is at Staying on Schedule

Here is a great I-Phone App.  Although I don’t have an Iphone I thought some people would be interested.

Xobni Incorporates with Your Facebook Profile, Yahoo Mail, and Skype

This is definately one of the best programs I’ve downloaded.  I recommend it to anyone using Outlook.

Zapr Makes File Sharing Painless

Zapr is a new file-sharing application that promises to make remote file sharing extremely simple.

Gadgets and marketing – Acer 24-inch monitor, Hitachi Maxell Headphones, Roll-up Mouse Pad, Bottlecap Tripod

Acer has a FullHD 24-inch monitor for you (if you want it)

This is pretty cool but I still plan on waiting.

Hitachi Maxell iPod-Only Noise-Canceling Headphones Don’t Need Batteries

My blackberry headphones suck.  I’m going to pick up a pair of these to test out.

Roll-up mouse pad encloses a hub, speakers, and our hearts

An everything in one mouse pad to go with your laptop.

Bottlecap “tripod” – don’t put anything expensive on it

A very cool idea.  I don’t know how many people I’ve seen lose their camera’s trying to balance them on their pint glasses!

Survey – Financial Core

Just finished a survey for an established company in the UK looking to set up a satellite office in Toronto.  Here were the results in the 2500 sf range.

Toronto Financial Core Office

Click on the pic above to zoom in.

OfficeSearchToronto.com tracks available office space across the GTA.  Want a survey or availability report somewhere else in Toronto?  Are these space too big?  Call us at 416-992-9869 or email chris@officesearchtoronto.com.

Loft Space – Financial Core

A few of my clients have asked about “loft space” on the subway line.  This is a very difficult requirement due to the low vacancy rates and because most of it is at King and Spadina, but I have attached a few hidden jems around the financial core.

Loft Space along the Subway Line – Toronto

Please note the attached office space is not listed with OfficeSearchToronto.com but call us first at 416-992-9869 or E-mail Me for floor plans and additional information.  If you want to sort out only the available office space listings on this blog, click the link “Available Office Space Toronto” in the Catories section on the bottom right.

Website marketing tools

AeroSnap Brings the Windows 7 Snap Feature to XP, Vista

Free application AeroSnap brings the new Windows 7 drag-and-snap-to-size feature to your pre-Windows 7 machine.

Slife 2.0 for Windows Leaves Beta

I spend too much time on firefox… and google reader.  Slife, a software download that tracks what applications you use, has released a full version 2.0 for Windows.

Google SketchUp 7 Released

I have yet to try this but I will make sure I do so this week.

Google released its seventh edition of SketchUp for Windows and Mac systems, the free 3D modeling tool that topped our list of Top 10 Google products you forgot all about.

Gadgets to make your life easier

LED Bracelet Flashlight Frees Up Both Hands For Work

If you work at night on your laptop, in your bedroom, in front of the TV, this could be useful.

Sony DR-BT160AS Bluetooth Headphones: Buyable Now for $130

I’ve been waiting for some good bluetooth headphones… but these are a little too ugly for me.

Tiny Bluetooth dongle easily updates your laptop

I’m going to enjoy plugging this into my Acer One and running internet through my Blackberry Bold, wherever I am… with a cell signal.

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