Today out of home leasing and development expert Andy Goodman talks about public, private and shopping center landlords.

The difference between a private and public landlord

With a private property owner I am most successful with a 1 or 2 page lease.  When I get a lease with a private landlord I still have to go through the process of negotiating a Development Agreement, working with staff, the planning commission, the council and getting approval. At any one of these steps the process can come to an end because the City determines it has no interest in approving digital billboards. The other challenge in Southern California is when I get a private lease, I never know how much money the city will ask in Development Agreement fees. I have to remember that this is a three party deal.

With the public entities some negotiations involve a RFP bidding war, but sometimes we get lucky and find a City that only wants to deal with a particular individual company. With a public entity you end up with a 20 page lease because they have to cover every base. It can be a much longer negotiations than with a private landlord. When I get a lease from a public landlord, such as a City, you know that the City has a vested interest in approving the project. The City has already determined its interest, the location and the amount of fees they will charge. The City also knows that the lease will be a two party agreement and therefore they can ask for higher lease rent.

Dealing with Large Shopping Center owners

I haven’t had much luck with dealing with large Shopping Center owners. My experience is that they will tell you that “you are the preferred vendor” and once they have picked your brain, they go off and build the location themselves. If you’re lucky enough to get further into negotiations they require ownership of the billboard and/or have too many restriction on the type of advertising allowed on the sign. That kills the deal immediately. Maybe I’m too cynical, but not one of them has come through with honest and legitimate negotiations that has consummated a deal. Maybe one day they will prove me wrong.

[wpforms id=”9787″]

Paid Advertisement