Congratulations to the Tactix Team, Glenn Blumenfeld, Doug Simon, Kartik Patel and Michael Rabinowitz for winning Best Real Estate Deals of 2020 in the Office Lease category.

Blank Rome, one of Philadelphia’s largest law firms, signed a new 16-year lease for its headquarters on space in the Center City building where it currently resides, One Logan Square.

Unusual and unprecedented, at least in the Philadelphia market, the amount of space the law firm will take hasn’t been determined, though it will be between 100,000 and 160,000 square feet. Blank Rome currently occupies 196,000 square feet at One Logan, which is owned by Brandywine Realty Trust.

Most leases are typically negotiated to include options to expand a tenant’s space over time, but not this one. The new lease provides Blank Rome with several contraction rights in the future so it can right size its space as its practice changes over time.

A long-term commitment by the firm also justifies the significant expense needed to renovate its space into a more contemporary design that also addressed current and future work styles. Recognizing that significant capital was required, Blank Rome was also adamant that it be more cost-effective in the way it consumed space so getting a great deal and right-sizing its space were mandates for any new agreement.

“Halfway through the deal, the pandemic threw us all a curveball,” according to the deal’s nomination. “All of a sudden the world changed and Blank Rome was no longer certain how it wanted to redesign its space or even how much space it wanted to occupy. The question was, could we structure a deal that created the long-term certainty that Blank Rome wanted while also giving it extraordinary flexibility and time to adapt to the new, post-Covid world?”

A solution was created, giving Blank Rome up to three years from lease signing to evaluate and determine how much space it needed. Blank Rome will curtail its footprint by over 10% in order to generate immediate savings, according to the nomination. The arrangement also provides the firm the ability to reduce its footprint by an additional 40% at any point within the first two years.

To read more about this deal click below for the full article.
Best Real Estate Deals of 2020: Office lease winner

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