The Challenge
LBi had become very successful in it’s core business and was hiring. They were poised to go from 50 employees to 85 employees. Their present office of 10,000 square feet was too small. Their landlord offered them expansion options in their own building, but they declined.
The Solution
The principals of LBI Software had used Ross’s services twice over the past ten years. He helped them renew their lease and then expand their office space. Because of successfully working together on these transactions, LBI was confident that Ross was the man to help them with their largest requirements in the company’s history.
Ross and the principals devised their strategy. They would initially research the market for a building to purchase, if nothing suitable was available then they would look to lease. The key was to allow an exorbitant amount of time for this process. They needed 15,000+ square feet to accommodate their growth, and unfortunately there were not a lot of buildings for sale on the market in that size range. Ross encouraged them to expand the geographic area of their search to include Melville and then they got lucky.
The Result
Ross introduced them to a 25,000-square foot office building in a prime location in Melville. The first problem was the asking price which was over market. Ross was able to negotiate the price down by $1.17M which made the potential purchase feasible. The next problem was the building had numerous small tenants throughout the building. Ross and the LBI principals were able to negotiate the tenants to the top floor leaving 15,000 square feet on the first two floors for LBI’s requirements. The next problem was that LBI were excellent software designers but knew nothing about real estate. Ross introduced them to the idea of a building manager to take the management off their hands. Ross then introduced them to the bank to provide financing which they were able to parlay into a SBA loan. Ross then introduced them to the Suffolk County IDA who offered to save them thousands of dollars in taxes. Finally, Ross and the building seller introduced them to a project manager, an architect and a interiolr designer. The result is LBI now occupies a beautiful building in a prime location that will allow their company to grow and succeed in the coming years.
