Over the past 7 years you have developed 12 build to suit facilities for Convenient Marts. These facilities are generally located on strip center out parcels, are roughly 11,000 sf, and completely occupied by a Convenient Marts store. These properties have all been located along the main thoroughfares of suburban Philadelphia.

The typical lease terms on these deals have been:

A 10 year lease term

Rent is triple net

Rent has provided roughly a 350 basis point spread over the 10 year Treasury rate when the deal was signed. Assume the 10 year Treasury is 5.00%.

A 10 year renewal option

Convenient Marts may purchase the property (Convenient Marts has the option) at any time for fair market value

An option to purchase the property in year 10 (and year 20 if lease option is renewed) at a 10% discount to fair market value

A right of first refusal with respect to both lease and purchase as long as the lease is in effect.

The typical Convenient Marts store is a plain box, and petroleum product sales are prohibited in the leases.

Over the past decade Convenient Marts have expanded in the suburban areas of the major mid-Atlantic state metropolitan areas. This publicly traded company has been rated BBB+ (or better) for the past 7 years.

Convenient Marts has recently embarked upon an aggressive expansion campaign, targeting the suburban areas of secondary mid-Atlantic cities for new stores. As a result of this expansion effort, S&P has placed Convenient Marts debt on a credit watch, expressing concern that this effort may result in lower quality cash flows and an increased debt burden.

You have sold 10 of the 12 Convenient Mart stores you have developed. In each case, you sold them within 18 months of completion for an average cap rate that has a spread over 10 year Treasury of about 210 basis points. The two properties you have not sold have been completed with in the past 12 months. You anticipate that these properties will each sell for a spread of about 200 basis points over 10 year Treasury during the next year.

These properties you have developed for Convenient Marts have taken you as few as 10 months, and as much as 16 months to complete. Typically it requires about 12 months to develop one of these stores.

Convenient Marts have approached you, and asked you to play a major development role in their expansion effort. Specifically, they have indicated that they would like you to develop stores for them in the Allentown / Bethlehem, Pennsylvania area. They plan to add about 10 stores in this region over the next 3-4 years, and want you to be their developer in this effort.

Their first store site in this market is along the main suburban throughway in suburban Allentown. It is for a 10,000 sf store, with appropriate parking, ingress/egress, and signage requirements. Convenient Marts real estate committee has approved the following non-negotiable (take it or walk) deal terms:

10 year lease

10 year renewal option

Option to purchase at any time at fair market value

Option to purchase in year 10 (and year 20 if lease in renewed) at 10% discount to fair market value

Assume the 10 year Treasury now is 4.25%.

Right of first refusal with respect to both lease and purchase as long as the lease is in effect

Triple net rent lease

Rent for the first 10 years is $50,000 annually

Rent during the option years would be $65,000 annually

Certificate of Occupancy must be in place within 13 months

If the Certificate of Occupancy is not in place within 13 months, rent during the first 10 years is reduced to $40,000 annually

If Certificate of Occupancy is not in place within 14 months, Convenient Marts is released from the lease and you must pay them a penalty of $60,000.

This project would represent your first effort outside of the Philadelphia area. You believe that you can acquire the site for $120,000. You believe that approval, planning, and design costs should run about $50,000, while hard construction costs are estimated at roughly $400,000.

You have a term sheet on a loan which provides 3 year financing of $440,000 at LIBOR plus 300 basis points. Assume LIBOR is currently 1.4%. The loan adjusts the interest rate quarterly. The loan has no amortization and is pre-payable without penalty. You also will receive a development fee of 5% of hard costs plus approval, planning, and design costs.

Initial discussions with your lender and local planning officials lead you to anticipate no unusual problems with the project. The equity required for this project is available, but would absorb about 30% of your equity capacity.

Should you undertake this development?