Do you remember the childhood nursery rhyme, “The Old Woman in the Shoe?”  She had so many children, so little space she didn’t know what to do. Well, all her children moved out and she converted her shoe to office space. Then she hired a bunch of Millennials who want to work from home, and she has too much room!  Even as the economy is smoothing out and rumbling forward, many tenants find themselves with more space than they can accommodate.  They have fewer employees, or more of their employees are working remotely. They outsource a percentage of their tasks. They simply work more efficiently than they did five years ago when the lease was signed.

What do you do with the excess space? You could make your employees very happy and create an onsite day care center or a room with a couple Wii stations for fitness and fun. Some tenants will grimace and pay the rent with hopes they will grow back in the space. Think out of the allocated box.

First, check your lease to see if you have a cancellation option. Then start exploring. Check with the tenants on either side of your space, to see if they need to expand. If so, you might work out a deal you can present to your landlord. By Lynn Drake