Buying a Building on a Ground Lease?
January 18, 2025
by a searcher from Columbia University - Columbia Business School in Leesburg, VA, USA
I'm under NDA on a building/business for sale that provides a specialized retail/light commercial service. Owner filed bankruptcy on the business and building is now for sale. Newly built a few years ago. Poorly operated and variable rate mortgage got the better of owner forcing the bankruptcy. Building can't be retrofit for a different purpose other than the specialized service it provides. It's not a franchise. Of course the easy math is "what's the max capacity of customers the building can handle and how profitable can I make the service?" Obviously if that math doesn't work then it's a no go, but beyond that I'm looking for insight/guidance/expertise to help me think through this.
A) school me on ground lease considerations...
B) real estate financing considerations here...this is being presented as a building sale. It includes the machinery/capital equipment for the business services but it's not clear that those are quantified in the price.
C) a non-national bank holds existing mortgage and local company owns ground lease. Both have just approved lower pmts to current owner to keep operational while they work out a sale.
D) Eventual exit considerations of specialty service business/building on a ground lease.
E) what else should I be thinking about here?
Thank you!
from Eastern Illinois University in 900 E Diehl Rd, Naperville, IL 60563, USA
from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL, USA