How Can I Blend and Extend My Lease in a Landlord's Market?
The blend and extend lease renewal, often referred to as blending and extending, is a transaction where the cash flows from a currently leased space are combined with the cash flows derived from the current market value for the same space. Blend and extend transactions can consist of one space and one lease or multiple spaces and multiple leases, and typically will go into effect at least 12 months in advance of a lease expiration.
Negotiating a blend and extend transaction involves variables that are not a part of the typical lease renewal. For example, because blend and extend transactions are typically performed at least 12 months in advance of a lease expiration, assumptions must be made regarding future rent growth and market terms. A projected cash flow with an expected rent growth of 10% per annum is much different than one with 5% per annum. In addition, tenants and landlords may evaluate blend and extend transactions using different metrics. A tenant may focus on the straight-lined cash flow where the landlord might focus on its net present value or impact to an internal rate of return. The increased amount of variables and ways to evaluate transactions grows the complexity of the blend and extend renewal negotiation.
Both the tenant and the landlord must have incentive to perform a blend and extend lease renewal. In a marketplace favorable to the tenant, the tenant’s incentive is often to reduce their current rent spend by blending it with current market lease value, which can be significantly less. In exchange for a lower rent, the tenant will appeal to a landlord’s incentive which is often an extended lease term, which mitigates the potential for vacancy. Of course, these are not the only incentives possible.
Conversely, in a market where the landlord has an advantage the roles may be reversed. The landlord may have incentive to increase its cash flows by blending current below market rents with higher market lease values. In exchange for agreeing to a higher rent, the landlord will appeal to a tenant’s incentive which may be an extended lease term, allowing the tenant to project its real estate costs over a longer time period and mitigate the risk of real estate costs rising faster than expected.
Historically, blend and extend transactions have been performed primarily in a marketplace favorable to the tenant. Landlord’s concern over vacancy and credit risk have made them more receptive to reducing their near term cash flows in tenant-favorable marketplaces. However, we see potential for the blending and extending in landlord’s markets as well. This post examines the blend and extend lease renewal in a landlord’s market by analyzing realistic scenarios and identifying the upsides and downsides for both parties.
Blend and Extend Scenario 1-No Transaction Costs
In this scenario, a lease is in place for two more years at a base rent of $100,000 per month with base rent escalations of 3% per annum, which is the current market base rent escalation. Market rent is $125,000 per month with an expectation that it will increase by 10% over the next year and 9% over the final year of the lease. There are no transaction costs involved with this blend and extend. Using the aforementioned information, the current rent and market monthly cash flows would be as follows:
The landlord, who is looking for ways to boost its short term cash flow, approaches the tenant about blending and extending its lease for another five additional years. In order to figure out what terms to propose to the tenant, the landlord creates a blended cash flow that will allow the landlord to increase its short term cash flow and align with current market base rent escalations over the seven year lease term.
To the current rent and market monthly cash flows above, the landlord adds a combined cash flow column and a blended cash flow column. In the combined rent column, the landlord inserts the current monthly rent for the first two years and then the market rent for the remainder of the seven year lease to provide a baseline cash flow. The landlord defines the baseline cash flow as the assumed cash flow if the lease was renewed at the end of the lease term at market rents and terms. Using the total baseline cash flow as a target, the landlord then financially engineers the blended rent to align with current market base rent escalations over the term. The resultant cash flow is as follows:
The blended rent cash flow above provides advantages for both the landlord and tenant. The landlord is able to receive a higher rent sooner and also mitigate the downside risk of rents dropping prior to the expiration of the lease. Furthermore, the net present value of the blended rent cash flow is higher than the net present value of the combined rent cash flow at a discount rate of 6%, which further helps support the blend and extend lease renewal for the landlord under this scenario ( assuming 6% is an appropriate discount rate for the transaction). For the tenant, the main benefit of the blend and extend lease renewal in the above scenario would be the predictability of its rent in years 3-7. As in this scenario, tenants may prefer to base the blended rent on the combined rent NPV versus the cash flows-however this is largely dependent on the discount rate they choose to use.
Blend and Extend Scenario 2-Landlord has Transaction Costs
Scenario 1 provides a simple and straightforward example of how to arrive at a blended rent cash flow under a blend and extend lease renewal. However, in reality the Landlord typically incurs transaction costs in a blend and extend lease renewal. Such transaction costs can include brokerage commissions and tenant improvements-whether by allowance or turnkey improvements.
In Scenario 2 the landlord agrees to pay a brokerage fee of $100,000, to be paid ½ upon execution of the lease amendment and ½ following the 24th Month of the new lease term. In addition, the landlord also agrees to provide a one-time tenant improvement allowance of $100,000 prior to the start of the new lease term. The landlord typically applies a straight-line amortization to its transaction costs.
Prior to submitting a proposal to the tenant, the landlord creates a blended rent cash flow that will recapture its transaction costs over the lease term on a cash flow basis. Using the combined rent and blended rent cash flows generated in Scenario 1 as a template, the landlord creates the cash flow below to address the landlord’s request:
*One month @ $90,656 to account for the second half commission payment
Advantages and Disadvantages
As exemplified by the scenarios above, a blend and extend lease renewal in a landlord favorable market can have certain advantages and disadvantages for both the landlord and tenant. The following table illustrates some of the possible positive and negative aspects for the landlord and tenant.
Summary
The blend and extend lease renewal can be an advantageous transaction for both the Landlord and Tenant in markets favorable to the landlord or tenant. In either case, it is important for each party to quantify the positive and negative aspects of a proposed blend and extend transaction, especially its financial impact to each respective organization.
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