The following is an email from the Principal of NelsonHill, a commercial real estate company that received prayer from the Shoulder to Shoulder team, and the responses to a few follow up questions:
We still own an industrial building in Chicago which over the last 3-years have developed into a multi tenant investment property. Our single biggest tenant is an Event Company that makes up half of our rent roll. In March, when the crisis hit, they told us that they couldn’t pay rent and wouldn’t be paying until they are able to determine the full effects of the health crisis. We met on multiple ZOOM calls to determine how we might be able to restructure their lease obligation to help them thru this tough time but there was no solution that they could commit to other than us replacing them with a new tenant. This was the worst outcome for us, because having worked that market for so long, we know it could take over 12-months to find another tenant. Also with the damaging effects of COVID, this time frame is even harder to forecast. On Saturday, (before we launched the space to the market), I got an email from a medical company looking to bring its PPE manufacturing back from China to manufacture in the USA. They have a unique space requirement given the specific dimensions of the new machinary. Their need matched half of the event companies space. In 3-days we were able to negotiate a lease, gain cooperation from the event company (with a plan to move their inventory to an under utilized part of the building within 10-days) and execute a lease at a rate 40% higher than the previous rent. Crazy miracle and another reminder that God is working while we are resting in His goodness. We went back to the Event Company with the new lease plan and the rent release has enabled them to make up their unpaid rent and they are now confident they can keep the business alive under the new plan (supernatural win-win).