Securing a commercial tennant.

[Austin Rivers]

Hi guys,

I recently purchased mutliple commercial properties, primarily for use by my small business. Two of the properties are currently not being used. The plan is to bring them up to modern code, and then rent them out. Before starting this, I gaged interest from several small businesses in the surrounding area, and received an informal handshake agreement from one small business owner saying that once renovations were made, they would like to rent the property to expand their business. Currently the timeline is 6 months before they are wanting to have their opening in their new location on my property. Is there any legal way to make this commitment formal? Is that even appropriate to do at this point, being 6 months out? If not, when would it be appropriate to do so, and what type of legal contract should be used?

Thanks!

- Austin