Two sister technology companies with different space requirements based in two separate buildings sought to place their respective North American headquarters under the same roof, in adjoining space on the same floor.  This was the challenge successfully met by Stuart Holcombe, CCIM, Principal of ITRA/Corporate Real Estate Advisors in Atlanta.

Mr. Holcombe represented Stibo Systems (www.stibosystems.com) a leading global provider of product information management (PIM) and master data management (MDM) solutions, and CCI Europe (CCI) (www.ccieurope.com), which develops and supplies cross-media solutions in partnerships with newspaper publishers.

Working closely with Stibo President Andreas Lorenzen, and Carsten Boe Jensen, the President of CCI, US, Mr. Holcombe located space that fit each company's needs, enabling them to share common resources.  Each could still maintain their separate identities, separate leases, and separate reception areas in their separate spaces.

Their space requirements were quite different:

• Stibo previously had 8555 rentable square feet (RSF) in a Class B+ Property but wanted to expand to approximately 13,000RSF in a Class A property.

• CCI had 8274 RSF, but would not move unless they could find a lease agreement with better terms.  Their new, more efficiently designed Class A space accommodated their requirements with only 7196 RSF at a lower rental rate.

ITRA's Mr. Holcombe leveraged his block negotiating power with the landlord, obtaining for both tenants higher tenant improvement finishes, significant rental savings and no escalations on the rate for four years on a five-year term.  By placing the escalations in the final year of the lease, the companies' base rent will have a lower reset at the end of the lease--another huge savings.

"Stuart Holcombe not only used his negotiating skill to save our company money up front, but far down the road as well," says Stibo President Andreas Lorenzen.  "The needs of both Stibo and CCI were met individually and together while we also upgraded our space, thanks to his dedicated efforts."