19
Overheard two guys talking at Eastern Market about their shop rent increase
I was grabbing a bag of coffee beans Saturday morning and caught these two dudes arguing near the spice stall. One guy owns a clothing boutique on Gratiot and he was telling his buddy his landlord just bumped his rent from $2,800 to $3,500 a month with no warning. The other guy nodded like it was normal and said his mechanic shop on Michigan Avenue got hit with a $400 hike last quarter. It got me thinking about how many small places around here are one rent jump away from closing up. I run into these situations all the time with my clients, but hearing it raw from the owners themselves hits different. Makes you wonder if there's any real pushback happening or if everyone just pays up and hopes for the best. Has anyone in this group actually negotiated a rent increase down and gotten it to stick?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
olivers2822d ago
I always wonder what people actually try before they just give in. Did the boutique guy ask for a breakdown of what justified that $700 jump? Property tax reassessment, insurance spike, or just the landlord testing the waters. My experience with commercial leases around here is that some of them will back off a little if you show them comps from adjacent blocks. The mechanic on Michigan Avenue had a stronger argument because automotive shops have huge sunk costs in lifts and equipment, moving is basically impossible. Did either of them mention getting a lawyer to review their original lease language? Some of those contracts have annual increase caps hidden in the fine print that even the landlord forgets about.
2
richardknight22d ago
I mean, I get where you're coming from with the comps and the lease caps, but I've been on the other side of this a few times and it's rarely that clean. The $700 jump on Gratiot could easily be a landlord who already factored in the going rate for that block, and showing them comps might just make them say "yeah, that's what I'm charging now" without budging. From what I've seen, most small shop owners don't have a lawyer on retainer, and digging through old lease language is something people forget to do until they're already panicking about the new number. The mechanic on Michigan Avenue sounds like he just accepted it because moving his whole setup would cost way more than $400 a month, which is a lousy spot to be in. Idk, maybe real pushback happens more in other parts of town, but around here it feels like landlords hold all the cards and owners just grit their teeth.
1