Real Estate Schadenfreude

So my firm, and it's progeny, Stuart's firm, has been in the SunTrust Building since 1996. We were always tenants of the bank, and all was fine. Last year the building was sold to a group we call the Brazilian brothers, since it's several Brazilian brothers, and SunTrust lost its long term lease, as did we.

Stuart and Joel began negotiating with the Brazilians to stay, for another 5 years. They went back and forth, and ended up with a lease that would have paid the Brazilians $1M over 5 years...not exactly chump change.

But Joel said, correctly, that they ought to give new carpet and paint the place -- which hadn't been done since '08. The cost probably would have been well under $10K. The Brazilians said "No" which is Portuguese for "No."

I spoke to Alex, a friend whose business shared the 4th floor. He said he had heard that the Brazilians knew they should have agreed, but they greatly dislike lawyers, and wanted to make it a macho thing -- thinking we'd just move in without the paint and carpet.

Instead, our man Vince found space 2 blocks South, in a decent building, at HALF THE COST. Stuart hired our old friend Allison to coordinate the move, and Allison did it tremendously well -- moving the several law firms in our confederation in record time.

Today I stopped by the old building to cash a check, and wandered up to the old space. It's vacant -- with the carpeting ripped up. There is zero chance the Brazilians can welcome new tenants by October. So at minimum they lost out on 4 months rent, PLUS the new carpeting we had asked for.

The lesson is that taking up macho stands costs a lot. I assume the Brazilians are so rich, the mere tens of thousands of dollars they lost from us are meaningless.

And -- we really dig the new spot. 2 blocks away opens up an entire new world of lunch places -- including Halal Guys, and Zuuk, a healthy place D1 endorses heavily.

I do miss Trulucks being downstairs -- but as the weather cools, I'll amble over to there again. I miss Victor, my bartender.

So the law biz slouches forward for me -- part time, like I like it.