Negotiating and Drafting Restaurant Leases
Provisions Addressing Tenant Improvements, Financing and Franchise Structures, Mixed Use, Clean-up Equipment, and More
Recording of a 90-minute premium CLE webinar with Q&A
This CLE webinar will focus on drafting and negotiating provisions of restaurant leases. The panel will discuss how best to address particular concerns with a restaurant use, tenant improvements, franchise relationships, operational issues in mixed-use developments, and issues applicable to tenants generally.
Outline
- Restaurant tenants generally: distinguishing features
- Tenant improvements/buildout provisions
- Allocation of responsibility between landlord and tenant
- Equipment and furnishings: lender rights upon lease or loan default
- Franchised (chain) restaurants: rights of franchisor upon default under lease or franchise
- Insurance provisions and coverages
- Other provisions: co-tenancy, go dark, termination provisions, parking, options to renew, insurance
- Subordination, non-disturbance, and attornment agreements
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- How do the operational aspects of a restaurant impact provisions in a restaurant lease?
- Given the expense of a restaurant buildout, how might financing arrangements impact the lease?
- How might a franchise agreement affect the provisions of a restaurant lease and the build-out process?
- What are the nuisance concerns to address in a restaurant lease?
- What particular concerns exist in a mixed-use development and how might they be reflected in the lease?
Faculty

Bruce B. May
Member
Jennings, Strouss & Salmon
Mr. May has counseled sophisticated local, national, and international owners, developers, lenders, and investors in... | Read More
Mr. May has counseled sophisticated local, national, and international owners, developers, lenders, and investors in all phases of: large scale mixed-use projects, regional and neighborhood shopping centers and stand-alone retail uses, condominium development, master-planned residential communities, and office buildings, among others. Mr. May was elected as a Fellow in The American College of Real Estate Lawyers in honor of his state-wide and national accomplishments. He is also a member of the Georgetown Advanced Commercial Leasing Institute in recognition of his expertise in commercial leasing. He has been interviewed, and his opinions sought, by prominent nationally distributed newspapers, and has been a contributor to a syndicated radio program regarding events of national significance.
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Jodi Rich
Partner
Ulmer & Berne
In Ms. Rich's practice of real estate law, she represents buyers and sellers in the acquisition, sale, and... | Read More
In Ms. Rich's practice of real estate law, she represents buyers and sellers in the acquisition, sale, and development of shopping centers. She also represents buyers and sellers in various commercial real estate acquisitions and sales, including properties with unique circumstances such as environmental contamination. Ms. Rich represents commercial landlords, tenants, and clients completing 1031 exchanges. She also assists both lenders and borrowers in negotiating loan documents. Ms. Rich has negotiated transactions involving distressed properties, including assisting clients navigate through deals involving the foreclosure of real property.
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