In VERY One-Sided Deal With Landlord For My Business Building

[Juan V Lopez]

Context: I own a donut shop in a busy area in Denver. I acquired the business in January 2019 and the previous owner had a lease agreement through April 2021. Business is good, but my current lease is terribly one-sided. Monthly rent is $6K/mo and I'm responsible for property taxes ($14K for 2019). Giving away more then $85K in 2019 for the building without earning any equity on it killed me.

The building is old and we are planning to renovate in mid-2020. I'm going to invest into it to improve business. It's in a very good area that is still being developed and has a ton of potential. I have no doubt we'll crush it even more after renovating and catering to our younger market.

The owner has zero interest in selling the building. He's an older gentleman who owns about 70% of the buildings within a few miles radius from us. I hold no contempt toward the owner because I wish I had circumstances like his (owning a building that someone pays you rent AND property taxes on). He's a smart man. But I'm on the bad end of an extremely one-sided deal.

He gives ZERO tenant improvement allowances and his attitude toward someone trying to get a mutually beneficial deal is currently: "If you don't like it, leave. I'll have someone else in there in no time." Our building stands alone on a corner lot with lots of parking – very rare and coveted in our area.

Question: I want to re-negotiate as we head into the end of our current agreement in 2021. How do you create leverage with someone who currently holds all the cards? Any ideas for how to approach this and propose something mutually beneficial? We want to continue doing business here, but the numbers don't lie. Can't keep giving away big chunks of money year after year.

TIA BP community :]