By Brandon Glick, Managing Partner, Chicago
Most distribution and industrial executives don’t think about their lease until they have to.
The renewal letter arrives. The ops team starts asking questions. Someone puts it on the agenda. And suddenly a decision that should have taken 12 months of careful strategy gets compressed into 90 days of reaction.
That’s exactly where your landlord wants you.
The leverage window is open, but not forever
Here’s something most tenants don’t realize: the best lease outcomes aren’t won at the negotiating table. They’re won 18 to 24 months before you ever get there.
If your lease expires in 2027, that window is open right now, in 2026. And what you do with it will determine whether you negotiate from a position of strength or a position of pressure.
Landlords understand timing better than almost anyone. They know that a tenant with 90 days left and no alternatives will sign almost anything to avoid the disruption of a move. They also know that a tenant who showed up early, toured competing options, and clearly did their homework is a different conversation entirely.
The difference between those two tenants isn’t market conditions. It’s preparation.
What the best-positioned industrial tenants are doing right now
The executives who consistently get the best lease outcomes aren’t the ones who negotiate the hardest in the final hour. They’re the ones who control the process from the start. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
They map their options before the market maps them out. Before any conversation with a landlord begins, they know what else is available, what comparable facilities are leasing for, what concessions are being offered to attract tenants, and whether staying put is actually the best move or just the most comfortable one. That knowledge changes everything about how you walk into a renewal.
They understand what vacancy pressure means for their deal. Industrial vacancy rates have shifted. In many markets, landlords who were calling the shots two years ago are now quietly offering free rent, tenant improvement dollars, and flexible terms to fill space. But they’re not advertising it. They’re waiting to see if you’ll ask. Knowing the market, really knowing it, is the difference between leaving money on the table and keeping it.
They lock in leverage before the clock runs out. Leverage in real estate is simple: it’s options. The more realistic alternatives you have, the more seriously your landlord takes you. When you start early, you have time to genuinely explore the market, create competition for your tenancy, and negotiate from a position where walking away is actually possible. Wait too long, and that leverage evaporates.
The cost of waiting is real
I’ve sat across from C-suite executives who signed renewals they didn’t need to sign, at rates they didn’t need to pay, because the clock ran out before their options did.
Not because they weren’t smart. Not because they didn’t care. But because running a distribution operation is consuming, and the lease felt like something that could wait until next quarter.
It waited one quarter too many.
A few well-negotiated points in a lease renewal (rate, escalations, free rent, TI allowance) can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the deal. For a multi-location industrial operation, the number is bigger still. That’s not a rounding error on the P&L. That’s real money that either stays with your business or gets left behind.
What to do before 2027 arrives
If your lease expires in 2027, here’s where to start:
Get a clear picture of the market now. Not a general sense, but actual data on what comparable industrial and distribution facilities are trading for in your corridors, what landlords are offering, and where vacancy is creating opportunity.
Understand your current lease before anyone else touches it. Renewal options, notice deadlines, escalation structures, termination rights, know exactly what you have and what it’s worth before a landlord frames it for you.
Get represented. Your tenant rep doesn’t cost you anything. What you get in return is someone whose entire job is to know the market, run the process, and make sure you don’t walk into a negotiation alone.
The tenants who start early win. It’s that simple.
By the time 2027 arrives, the executives who waited will be negotiating from a corner, tired, time-pressured, and working with whatever options remain.
The ones who started in 2026 will have leverage, alternatives, and a deal that reflects what the market actually offers.
The window is open. The question is whether you’ll use it.
