His corporate landlord for his South Lake Union location, a real estate firm called LaSalle Investment Management that has $69 billion in assets, said no to any rent reduction. The company said it was “willing to consider rent deferral only,” but added the following caveat:
“Firstly, please agree (via email) to cover LaSalle’s legal costs as they work to evaluate your request. Initially this will be small dollars but would increase if they document a rent deferral arrangement,” reads an email to Sauvage.
That’s right. The $69 billion company asked the teriyaki joint to cover some untold legal costs just to start talking about whether the rent could be late.
So that’s one landlord. What Sauvage heard back from landlord two surprised him even more.
BB’s has another location on the Ave in the University District, in a building owned for decades by the Timberlake family. If you recognize that name you may have had your teeth cleaned by a Timberlake — they’ve been doing dentistry in the U District since the 1940s.
“In consideration of the effect COVID-19 has had on the economy, with the U-District being particularly hard hit, the landlord will not be charging base rent,” the Timberlakes’ property manager wrote to BB’s Teriyaki.
“It’s a lifesaver that the Timberlakes gave us all free rent,” Sauvage said. “It means so much to us during this time of need, and will not go forgotten.”
It’s probably no coincidence that landlord one is an out-of-state corporate conglomerate, while landlord two is a multigeneration local family, Sauvage said.
But he’s been wondering: What is the right course? While free rent in a crisis is a remarkable community gift, it’s hardly an option for every building owner.
The $2.2 trillion relief bill from Congress has a fund to help small businesses, though it’s mostly designed to keep paying workers. Tenants have also won short-term relief from eviction. There hasn’t been much similar help for landlords.
“If the government shuts down your business, you can’t be expected to pay rent,” Sauvage said. “But the building owners can’t take the whole weight either. So where should the burden lie?”
I don’t know the answer. It likely lies somewhere between the first-responder selflessness of the Timberlakes and the calculating “you pay our legal bills and we’ll get back to you.”
The difficulty, though, is that the continuum suggested by this tale of two landlords is playing out everywhere at once. It’s a pressure cooker building up to May 1, when the rent, again, is coming due.
