Can't Hurt To Ask

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If you are a retailer wanting to renegotiate your rent, you're not alone. According to this Real Deal webcast, Borders, Urban Oufitters, CVS and many others are asking for rent breaks. This is putting landlords "in a pickle", because they aren't sure which tenants really need the reductions to survive, and which are just trying to take advantage of the situation. One expert, the vice chairman of commercial real estate advisory firm Grubb & Ellis, thinks that asking for a rent reduction or deferment will become the norm in the next year or so. [TRD]