The other moral of the story would don't assume that enthusiasm equals friendship. This poor fellow's erstwhile landlord fleeced him and I'm astonished that his investing partner didn't warn him away in favor of some less glamorous but more economically sustainable location.
Also, commercial landlords are not nice people. I see and hear a lot of similar stories here in the Bay Area, where it's now routine for landlords to jack up the rent by 100% at the end of a lease period. In cases like this landlords often plead that they have no other choice than to charge the market rate, and this is partly true - but they omit to mention that they are often leveraged to the hilt and are using their existing holdings as collateral to buy more property.
Even when property is sitting empty, it may still be 'working' for the landlord - commercial property can be depreciated for federal tax purposes over a 39 year period, so a building in a downtown area can sit empty but serve as a tax umbrella for profitable rentals elsewhere, as long as the costs of maintenance/blight mitigation stays low. I'm no accountant but as far as I can tell the tax code disproportionately favors property owners.
Also, commercial landlords are not nice people. I see and hear a lot of similar stories here in the Bay Area, where it's now routine for landlords to jack up the rent by 100% at the end of a lease period. In cases like this landlords often plead that they have no other choice than to charge the market rate, and this is partly true - but they omit to mention that they are often leveraged to the hilt and are using their existing holdings as collateral to buy more property.
Even when property is sitting empty, it may still be 'working' for the landlord - commercial property can be depreciated for federal tax purposes over a 39 year period, so a building in a downtown area can sit empty but serve as a tax umbrella for profitable rentals elsewhere, as long as the costs of maintenance/blight mitigation stays low. I'm no accountant but as far as I can tell the tax code disproportionately favors property owners.