Security

Tenants always say that security is one of their major concerns, yet many don’t do simple things to ensure a secure environment, and complain if building management institutes rules that seem onerous.

To: Tenants

Subject: Simple Things You Can Do

1)      Always make sure you know who has entered your space (office; store; etc.) In an office, have a receptionist. If the budget doesn’t allow for one, put someone else up front, or get a camera. In a retail store, salespeople should be on the floor to greet customers. Again, if you’re short staffed, get a camera.

2)      Make sure you lock up the premises at night, and that the locks are in good working order. If there is only one person in an office at any given time, and he/she has to go out- even to the bathroom- LOCK THE DOOR. I once had a tenant come to me in tears because she went to the bathroom- “It was only for a minute!”- didn’t lock the door, and returned to find her purse was gone. In her purse, along with her I.D. and money, was her green card.

3)      If you see someone who you don’t know, or is acting strangely, go up to them and ask if you can help them. Don’t just put your head in the sand and pretend you see nothing.

To: Building Management

Subject: The Big Picture

Building management can make security incredibly tight- witness how buildings tightened up after 9/11; or incredibly porous. It depends on the ownership; the location of the building; the tenant mix; and the economics. Having a lot of “boots on the ground” (in the form of security guards) is expensive. A camera system may be more cost effective in the long run, but it’s not fail safe. London has more cameras than anywhere on earth, yet they had terrorist attacks on 7/7, and, more recently, rioting all over the city.

Welcome to Managing Commercial Property

Welcome to Managing Commercial Property, where I blog on topics relating to the management of different commercial properties. My first post concerns the usage clause in a retail lease.

I was going through some old tenant files in the storeroom where I work, and came across one from 1953. It was for a women’s clothing store in the (former) Statler Hotel lobby. Reading over the correspondence, it struck me how little has changed in the job of managing a property and enforcing the lease. The tenant had a usage clause, restricting them to selling certain items- and naturally they ignored it. Various letters went back and forth, and it appeared in the end that they pulled the forbidden items. Fast forward to today, where I’ve encountered the same problem over and over, typically with smaller, “mom and pop” type establishments. The only way to enforce the usage clause is a) checking their store periodically and b) letting them know immediately if something’s wrong.

(P.S. In another file from the same era, there was a notation that the tenant wanted too many electrical outlets- I believe the number was three. Management may not have changed, but build outs certainly have!)