Nobody told you this.
Right now, in this specific window of time, you have more negotiating power over your commercial lease than you probably ever will again. Not in five years when the market stabilizes. Now.
I know how that sounds. But stay with me.
Here's What's Actually Happening
A physical therapy clinic owner in South Tampa has been in the same 2,400 square foot space for four years. Her landlord has been slow to fix the HVAC. Slow to return emails. Completely unavailable every time she raises the idea of expanding into the vacant suite next door.
Last month she found out her landlord's loan, taken out in 2021, matures in Q3 2026.
We are now negotiating a 30% tenant improvement allowance, two months free rent, and a first right of refusal on that adjacent suite. The landlord responded within 48 hours of her attorney's first call.
That's not luck. It's information.
And right now, you probably have more of it than your landlord realizes.
The Math Your Landlord Doesn't Want You To Know
Most commercial real estate loans are not 30-year fixed mortgages like a house. They're five to ten year terms with a balloon payment at the end. When that date hits, the landlord refinances or pays it off. Simple enough.
The problem is the rate gap. Many of the loans coming due now were originated in the low-rate years and carry interest rates around 4.75%. New CRE loans are being priced closer to 6.25%. (Translation: the same debt now costs meaningfully more every single month.) According to analysis from the Mortgage Bankers Association and MSCI, roughly $1.5 trillion in commercial and multifamily mortgage debt is scheduled to mature across 2025 and 2026.
Not a prediction. A calendar.
Refinancing isn't automatic. Lenders want to see stable occupancy, creditworthy tenants, and predictable income coming in every month. A landlord staring down a balloon payment needs those things badly.
Wellness operators fit that profile almost perfectly. According to JLL's Healthcare Real Estate Outlook, healthcare and wellness tenants rank among the highest-rated tenant categories in lender underwriting: long leases, low turnover, licensed operations that can't easily relocate. You're not just a rent check to a landlord with a maturing loan. You're how they get the refinancing approved.
5 Signs Your Landlord Is Under Financial Pressure Right Now
Not every landlord is in trouble. But some of the ones who look fine on the surface are quietly running out of runway. Here's what to watch for:
Deferred maintenance. The parking lot hasn't been restriped. The HVAC is running on borrowed time. They're trimming costs, and buildings show it first.
Response time dropped suddenly. Landlords with options don't rush. When urgency shows up out of nowhere, motivation is usually behind it.
They're pushing for a long-term renewal — before you even brought it up. A landlord trying to stabilize their rent roll for a refinancing package will often float five or seven year terms unprompted.
They're volunteering concessions you haven't asked for yet. Free rent upfront, a build-out contribution, flexible move-in. When they start offering before you ask, they need the occupancy number.
The property was acquired or refinanced in 2020 or 2021. CoStar data shows loans from that period are hitting maturity walls right now.
Landlords with loans maturing in the next six to twelve months are the most motivated. That's where the conversation changes from routine renewal to genuine negotiation.
What You Can Actually Ask For
Most wellness operators never ask for any of this. They find the space, sign the lease, move on. Here's what is genuinely on the table right now for operators who know to ask:
A flat renewal rate or an actual rent reduction, even in markets where asking rents are technically up
A tenant improvement allowance, where the landlord funds your build-out, renovation, or clinical infrastructure
Personal guarantee removal or a hard cap on personal liability
One to three months of free rent folded into the new lease or renewal
First right of refusal on adjacent space, so you hear about it before it hits the market
None of this is unusual in the current market. What's unusual is how few people ask for it.
That’s when your asks get politely denied — and your renewal quietly bumps up another few percentage points.
One More Thing Worth Considering
Some of the operators I'm working with right now aren't just asking for better lease terms. They're asking a different question entirely.
What if I bought the building instead?
The same debt pressure that gives you negotiating room as a tenant is also pushing some landlords toward selling rather than refinancing. Properties that can't pencil out a refinance are coming to market. And for a wellness operator with an established patient base and clean financials, the math on owning versus leasing is worth running.
Through the SBA 504 program, many owner-occupant wellness businesses can buy with as little as ~10% down and access long-term fixed-rate financing (often with terms up to 25 years), versus the 20–30% down payment typically required for conventional commercial loans. The Citizens Bank team will be walking through exactly how this works at the April Lunch and Learn — SBA 504 versus conventional, what lenders look for, and how wellness operators qualify. Exact terms depend on lender, underwriting, and project structure
Owning isn't right for everyone. If you're testing a new market, or capital is better deployed in growth right now, leasing still makes sense. But if you have a proven location, a stable patient base, and you've been writing a rent check for five years, there's a real question about whether that money should be building your equity instead of your landlord's.
Just something to put on the table.
My Take
My career before real estate was in healthcare growth strategy. Market expansion, new service line launches, evaluating whether a location would actually support the patient volume the numbers on paper promised. I was on the operator side of a lot of real estate decisions before I ever held a broker's license.
What I kept watching was the same pattern. Smart, capable practice owners treated their lease like a box to check. Find the space. Get back to patients. The real estate part is administrative.
That mindset is expensive. I've seen practices leave six figures in tenant improvement money on the table because they didn't know it was negotiable. I've seen personal guarantees follow business owners home after a location closed. I've watched operators renew at market rate when they had real room to hold firm.
What I do now is look at the capital structure behind the building before I ever talk terms. When did this landlord acquire? What kind of debt do they carry? When is it due? Once you understand what kind of pressure they're under, the whole conversation shifts.
The debt maturity information is public record. CoStar, MSCI, JLL — your landlord knows you can find it. The question is whether you show up to the conversation having done that work or not.
Most brokers never look at any of this. That's the gap.
One More Thing Before I Let You Go
Negotiating your current lease is one conversation. Figuring out whether to sign another one or finally buy — where to go, who your patients will be, and how to fund it — that's a different set of questions. I'm hosting a live panel in March for wellness operators in Tampa Bay who are ready to work through all of it.
If you’re the landlord reading this… this isn’t about “beating you up on terms”—it’s about structuring leases that keep your rent roll stable so you can actually clear the refinancing hurdle. Wellness operators with strong financials and longer-term commitments can improve your underwriting story, which is exactly why win-win deals in this cycle are worth fighting for.
Your Move
RESERVE YOUR SPOT
Scaling to Location #2: The Real Estate Playbook for Multi-Location Wellness Businesses
45-Minute Live Panel | $97/Seat | Tampa Bay | April 2026
If you're seriously thinking about opening an additional location— or you've been thinking about it for two years and haven't been able to figure out the first real step — this is the room.
Four panelists, each covering a different piece of the same question:
Where should your next location be, and how do you know before you commit? (Leigh Brower, eXp Commercial — site selection and real estate strategy)
Who are your next patients and how do you find them before you open? Ebony Langston of The Patient Experience Strategist covers patient acquisition strategy for practices moving into new markets.
SBA 504 versus conventional financing: what's the actual difference, which one fits your situation, and what lenders look at when a wellness operator applies. Citizens Bank is walking through both options.
What does the build-out actually cost, what decisions lock you in early, and what should you budget before you sign a lease? Britney Mroczkowski covers construction timelines and what to watch.
Every ticket includes a one-on-one strategy session. Attendees get a special rate on the Patient Demographic Heat Map and Market Analysis — the tool that shows you exactly where your next patients are before you pick your next address.
Reserve Your Spot, Seats are limited.
Not ready for the event but want to know how much room you actually have with your current landlord? Start there.
Until next week,
Leigh A. Brower
Fractional Chief Real Estate Officer
The Next Gen Dev | The Wellness Edition
The Next Gen Dev - Wellness Edition is your weekly briefing on the strategies and frameworks that separate wellness businesses building the future from those stuck in the past.
