Featured Engagements

Every engagement is different. What stays consistent is the process — a disciplined approach to understanding what's actually at stake, structuring transactions that align with how the business operates, and executing without leaving value on the table.

Life Science

Growth-Stage Lab Platform Relocation

The Situation

A clinical-stage biotech company had outgrown its 28,000 SF headquarters and lab facility in San Diego with 14 months remaining on its lease. The company had just closed a Series C round and needed to consolidate R&D, manufacturing, and administrative functions under one roof — while maintaining uninterrupted GMP operations during the transition. Timing was critical: any gap in lab availability would delay an FDA submission timeline.

The Approach

We began with a full operational needs assessment, mapping every workflow dependency between the lab, cleanroom, and office functions. Site selection focused on a 12-building shortlist across the Torrey Pines and Sorrento Valley corridors, evaluated against power redundancy, HVAC zoning capacity, and landlord willingness to fund tenant improvements at the scale required. Lease negotiations were structured to include an early-access period for buildout overlap, ensuring the team could validate the new cleanroom environment before surrendering the existing space. Financial analysis modeled three scenarios against the client's cash runway to align lease economics with fundraising milestones.

The Outcome

The client secured a 62,000 SF purpose-built facility with a lease structure that deferred significant rent obligation until after projected revenue milestones. The overlapping occupancy period preserved the FDA timeline with zero operational disruption.

62,000 SF consolidated facility
Zero days of operational downtime
Lease structured around fundraising milestones

Technology

Multi-Market Expansion for Enterprise SaaS

The Situation

A high-growth enterprise software company headquartered in Orange County needed to establish engineering hubs in two new markets while renegotiating an expiring 45,000 SF headquarters lease — all within a nine-month window. The company's headcount had grown 40% year-over-year, but leadership was navigating uncertainty around hybrid work adoption and didn't want to overcommit to space that might sit underutilized.

The Approach

Rather than treating each location as a separate transaction, we developed a portfolio-level strategy that considered total occupancy cost, talent market density, and operational flexibility across all three sites simultaneously. For the headquarters renewal, we leveraged competitive site alternatives to restructure terms significantly below the landlord's initial proposal. The two expansion markets were evaluated through a weighted scoring model incorporating labor market data, cost of living indices, and proximity to the client's existing customer base. Each new lease included structured flexibility — contraction options and sublease rights — calibrated to the company's growth scenarios.

The Outcome

All three transactions closed within the nine-month window. The portfolio approach generated measurable savings against the aggregate of what individual market-rate deals would have produced, while the flexibility provisions gave leadership confidence to commit without overexposure.

3 locations negotiated as unified portfolio
Headquarters renewal below market benchmarks
Built-in contraction options at each site

Defense & Manufacturing

Compliance-Driven Facility Consolidation

The Situation

A defense electronics manufacturer operating across four aging facilities in Southern California faced a convergence of pressures: two lease expirations within 18 months, new ITAR compliance requirements for its production environment, and a mandate from its private equity sponsor to reduce total occupancy cost. The existing footprint had grown organically over a decade and was operationally inefficient — materials moved between buildings multiple times during the production cycle.

The Approach

We engaged the client's operations and compliance teams from day one to develop a facility program that mapped production flow, security zoning requirements, and ITAR-compliant infrastructure specifications. Site selection prioritized buildings with existing heavy power, high clear heights, and the structural capacity to support the client's specialized equipment — narrowing a broad search to a focused set of viable candidates. Transaction structuring addressed the PE sponsor's priorities directly: a sale-leaseback component on owned property to unlock capital, combined with a long-term lease on the consolidated facility with tenant improvement funding sufficient to build out the compliance infrastructure.

The Outcome

The client consolidated from four facilities into a single 140,000 SF purpose-built operation. The new layout reduced intra-facility material movement substantially and met all ITAR requirements from day one. The sale-leaseback generated capital that the PE sponsor redeployed into the business.

4 facilities consolidated into 1
140,000 SF purpose-built operation
Full ITAR compliance from day one
Sale-leaseback capital redeployed into business

These engagements represent the range of work we do — not the full scope. If you're navigating a complex real estate decision and want to understand how a disciplined process applies to your situation, let's talk.