Why the Best Space Doesn't Always Go to the Best Tenant

There is a strange disconnect in commercial real estate: everyone talks about finding the "highest and best use" for a property, yet the tenant occupying the space isn't necessarily the one who fits that description on paper.

Why? Because thousands of tenants are expanding across the country right now, and most landlords and brokers have never heard of them. The tenants who do get considered are often the ones already sitting inside someone's relationship pipeline. If a growing concept isn't visible to the people controlling the real estate, it can effectively be invisible, regardless of how good an operator it is or how well its concept fits the market.

That's one of the things about the traditional system that has always bothered me. A landlord might have the perfect space for a particular tenant, but if nobody has connected those two pieces of information, the opportunity doesn't exist. Meanwhile, another tenant who happens to have an existing relationship with the broker gets a call, submits an LOI, and ends up with the space. It isn't necessarily the "best" use winning. It's the use that happened to be in the room.

We're trying to change that with Sytes, but there is still plenty that expanding tenants can do themselves to make sure they're in the room when opportunities come up.

1. Be Visible

If you're expanding into a market, make it obvious that you're looking for real estate there.

This sounds simple, but you'd be surprised how many tenants make landlords and brokers work to figure out where they want to go. If your expansion plans are buried in an earnings call or known only to a handful of brokers, you're limiting your own deal flow. Put your requirements somewhere easy to find, publish the markets you're targeting, and, ideally, give owners a straightforward way to submit a site directly to you.

The easier it is for someone to put a property in front of you, the more opportunities you're going to see. At Sytes, that's essentially the premise of the entire platform: tenants shouldn't have to rely exclusively on who happens to know they're expanding.

2. Be Easy to Do a Deal With

Being a strong operator is obviously important, but being easy to work with can be just as valuable when a landlord is deciding between multiple qualified tenants.

I've watched stronger operators lose deals to weaker ones because the weaker tenant was simply easier to get across the finish line. If one tenant negotiates every provision to death, takes weeks to respond, and constantly introduces new requirements, while another has reasonable expectations and keeps the process moving, the choice can become pretty easy.

That doesn't mean accepting bad economics or giving away leverage. It means knowing which issues actually matter and understanding that a lease negotiation is a relationship as much as it is a document.

3. Time to Market Matters

Tenants often underestimate how much their opening timeline matters to a landlord or developer.

Suppose two equally qualified tenants are considering the same space. One can open in three months, while the other needs ten. On paper, the difference might seem like a construction or operational issue. From the landlord's perspective, it's seven months of additional carrying costs, seven months without rent, and seven more months wondering whether the deal will actually make it to the finish line.

Speed creates value.

That doesn't mean rushing a project irresponsibly, but tenants who can demonstrate a credible path from lease execution to opening have a meaningful advantage when competing for desirable space.

Ultimately, getting the best real estate isn't always about being the biggest tenant, offering the highest rent, or having the most impressive concept. Sometimes it's about making sure the market knows you exist, making it easy for people to bring opportunities to you, and proving that once they do, you can actually get the deal done.

That's a much more useful definition of "highest and best use."