At MDL Group, we believe that a functionally obsolete building facing vacancy is not a dead end. With the right office repositioning strategy, targeted data-driven marketing, and the patience to work through a genuinely complex negotiation, it can become a highly successful sale.
Recently, MDL Group’s Michael Greene, CCIM, represented a seller in the $6.8 million sale of a 23,804-square-foot office property in the Las Vegas Metro market. The transaction, which has been submitted for the 2026 CCIM Dealmakers Award in the Office category, perfectly illustrates the power of creative problem-solving in a challenging real estate environment.
Here is a look behind the scenes at how our team navigated 11 contract amendments, extensive lease negotiations, and a major buyer pivot to successfully close this transaction.
The Challenge: An Aging Asset in a Soft Office Market
In the summer of 2024, our client engaged us to reposition an office asset ahead of the anticipated year-end departure of its largest tenant. The building housed two tenants, a 19,446-square-foot residential brokerage firm that was vacating, and a 4,358-square-foot dental office.
The starting point was a functionally obsolete office building with nearly 20,000 square feet of space heading toward vacancy in a soft office market.
The Strategy: Data-Driven Repositioning and Targeted Outreach
After a thorough market analysis and valuation of several redevelopment scenarios, Michael recommended demolishing the functionally obsolete office portion and converting the space into shell office condominiums that owner-users could customize. The repositioning strategy leaned on adaptive reuse, preserving existing restrooms, HVAC, ductwork, electrical, and life-safety systems where feasible to cut waste, reduce costs, and lower the project’s environmental impact.
Rather than broadly marketing the property, we used commercial real estate business intelligence platforms to build a highly targeted prospect list. We focused on companies with lease expirations in the next 12 to 24 months, businesses experiencing headcount growth, and professional-service firms that could benefit from a better location. By analyzing occupancy costs, we identified tenants whose rent was already comparable to the cost of ownership, presenting a compelling financial case built on equity, depreciation tax advantages, and long-term wealth creation.
The Pivot: Expanding the Scope of the Deal
During the marketing phase, a prospective owner-user elected to buy the entire building rather than just the vacant portion. This shift meant the transaction evolved into a single sale of the whole property, 19,446 square feet of shell office space plus the 4,358-square-foot dental office as a leased investment. The buyer’s broker for the transaction was Bob Barnhart of Luxurious Real Estate.
This pivot made a standard transaction far more complex, introducing tenant coordination, financing hurdles, and contract negotiation challenges all at once.
Navigating Hurdles to Reach the Closing Table
The deal faced multiple moments where it could have fallen apart. Extensive negotiations were required with the existing dental tenant over parking rights, building signage, and a second lease amendment that was contingent on the ownership transfer actually closing.
Simultaneously, the buyer ran into financing trouble. Initially working with an out-of-market lender, the buyer began missing contractual deadlines and eventually had to transition to a local lender to fold SBA financing into the acquisition structure.
To keep the deal alive, Michael negotiated and executed 11 separate amendments to the Purchase and Sale Agreement over roughly six months beyond the original closing date. These amendments covered revised due-diligence and closing timelines, financing extensions, the dental tenant’s lease amendment, multiple releases of the earnest money deposit, and the surrender of the departing tenant’s rent. By closing, the entire $300,000 earnest money deposit had been released to the seller, and the buyer was paying daily extension fees while finalizing financing. Despite the immense number of moving parts, every stakeholder stayed aligned, and the deal held together.
The Outcome: A Record-Setting Win for the Client
The entire property was successfully sold to an owner-user for $6.8 million. What could have become a partially vacant, aging office asset instead became an occupied, owner-controlled property with a long-term dental tenancy in place.
To put this transaction in context, in 2025 there were 87 owner-user office sales in the Las Vegas Metro totaling $247.3 million, with an average deal size of 9,953 square feet and an average price of $2,842,063. This single transaction represented 2.8 percent of that annual volume, came in 139 percent above the average price, was 139 percent larger than the average deal by size, and closed at a price per square foot 13 percent below the market average, a strong result that preserved economic activity.
This sale is a testament to the fact that persistence matters. Keeping all stakeholders aligned through 11 amendments and six extra months is what got the deal closed, proving that thoughtful redevelopment and strategic brokerage can create tremendous economic value.
For more information on our commercial brokerage and repositioning services, contact MDL Group today.
