I have come to recognize that as a tenant representation broker, I often shepherd my clients from their real estate dreams to reality.  Sure, some transactions are just the nitty gritty of lease negotiations and documentation (I love an easy one now and then) but most of the time I get my clients from “just thinking about it” to decisive action and a signature on the lease contract.

A really good case in point is a food manufacturing client I am working with presently.  Their business is well established on a small scale.  They have developed a brand and a reputation for hand crafted luxury food products.  Their product is in demand, their markets are growing, and they know what scaling up their operations looks like.  An ideal client, indeed.

We started with discussions of the type of building they envisioned and where they wanted to be.  I surveyed the market and we got out and looked at a couple of buildings that had potential.  But then something happened that I recognized.  They came up with random and odd objections to the buildings:  concerns about the smells emanating from the downtown produce market a quarter of a mile away, complaints about the shape of the space or the presence of structural columns in the premises.  All of these concerns are valid but they were being raised because my  client was in the dark as to the concrete next steps that would carry them to their goal.  So I did what I often do when I see these signs – I pulled the train into the station.

I learned that the capital for their expansion was coming from investors who had expressed a passing interest in growing the business.  From my experience, I knew that he would never see a penny without a clearly thought out and detailed business plan.  He would need to present a model for growth and clearly outline how much capital he needed and how it would be deployed.  And in order to do that, he would need to have planning and construction experts on his team that would help him establish the cost to build a new factory and then help him evaluate buildings that look promising.   Without these resources and the insights they could provide, he would just be guessing and would never be able to make that big decision that would transform his dream into action. I set up an introductory meeting with a great design/build that was very helpful. 

As I expected, things have gotten very quiet over the past month with the client while he turns his ideas into a plan of action.  When we resume looking at buildings, it will be a much more constructive undertaking that will be defined not by his imaginings but by investor guidelines and verifiable cost considerations.

As any chef  knows, it takes discipline to make delicious.