Speaking of construction, another thing that might be surprising is the “tenant improvement allowance”. If your lease is long enough (at least 5-7 years), it’s

Speaking of construction, another thing that might be surprising is the “tenant improvement allowance”. If your lease is long enough (at least 5-7 years), it’s often expected that the landlord will pay to hire an architect, rip out whatever interior the previous tenant had, and build out the interior to your specs. (Up to some limit, which is the “allowance”). But again, that isn’t counted as a rent discount. In the other direction, there’s the whole area of “net” rent (and “triple-net” rent), and the bizarre calculation for shared spaces that makes “square foot” a semi-imaginary unit.