Commercial Leasing

We have a substantial and dynamic landlord leasing practice at Quarles & Brady, and there is virtually no issue that has not been addressed by at least one of our leasing attorneys at some point in his or her career. We have drafted and negotiated virtually every type of option provision, including expansion rights, renewal rights, termination rights, rights of first offer and refusal, allowances, naming/signage rights, build-to-suit, and pre-construction leasing clauses, among others. As a result, we are able to provide our landlord clients with a wealth of real estate leasing experience and draw upon approaches we have taken in the past, which eliminates the need for anyone to prepare a document from scratch. Our vast experience also helps us expedite our completion of specific drafting assignments, and our clients frequently marvel at how quickly we are able to generate drafts and provide responsive reviews of documents.

Because of our experience, we know and understand tenant and broker agendas well, and we know how to negotiate fair lease documents while protecting the interests of landlords and lenders. We work closely with asset managers, property managers and leasing agents to ensure that all aspects of the deal are fully and fairly represented.

We also provide valuable construction experience in dealing with workletter, buildout, construction escrow and related issues, and our work does not end when the lease is signed. Instead, we remain available after the completion of a lease negotiation to assist our clients in negotiating architect, construction, engineering, and service contracts in helping to resolve disputes and in providing quick and practical answers to lease interpretation issues that may arise from time to time.

We also prepare and negotiate lease amendments, termination agreements, license agreements and indemnity agreements; we review assignment and sublease documents and prepare and process landlord consent documents; and we prepare tenant estoppels, negotiate landlord waiver documents and process subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreements.

Finally, we work closely with the Quarles & Brady Litigation Group to commence and diligently prosecute lease enforcement proceedings, if and when necessary, and we work with our talented bankruptcy attorneys in asserting our landlord clients’ rights in tenant bankruptcy proceedings.

Recent representative transactions:

Some of the properties we currently represent include:

• The 411 East Wisconsin building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  
  
• A host of buildings in Chicago, including 311 West Monroe Street, 123 North Wacker Drive, One South Wacker Drive, Citigroup Center, Congress Center, 35 West Wacker Drive, 8501 West Higgins Road, and Citicorp Plaza. (We have also represented in Chicago UBS Tower, John Hancock Center, NBC Tower, 401 North Michigan Avenue, AT&T Center, USG Building, 200 South Wacker Drive, and serve as outside lease counsel to the City of Chicago for leasing projects at both Midway Airport and O’Hare Airport, to name a few.)
  
  
• In Arizona, the ownership of One and Two Renaissance Square, Collier Center and Phoenix Plaza in Phoenix, and a number of retail shopping center owners in the metropolitan Phoenix area as well as the owners of numerous industrial and other office and retail facilities.

For more information on how we can help with your commercial landlord leasing needs, please contact Diane M. Haller at (602) 229-5625 or diane.haller@quarles.com.