I know - it sounds nonsensical.  But when you face that crossroads at the end of your lease, what your head tells you to do is never the outcome your business really needs.  You see, it is human nature to opt for continuity when facing the transition of a lease or renewal term.  Picture it like coming upon a small stream while hiking in a dense forest: your reflex response is to cross it, shake off your feet, and continue on your way.

The truth is your business is in constant flux: growing, becoming leaner, shifting its core offerings, evolving with industry trends.  But the nature of your facility is static and it masks these changes.  Your location and built environment is frozen in the state you negotiated the last time around.  Even more critically, the static nature of your built environment impedes the changes your business needs to make because you are forced to work within the same offices, the same conference room, the same employee break room (and the same dock doors and the same warehouse clear height in the case of industrial real estate.)  All the while, your business - how it exists presently and how you envision it in the future  - might be craving fewer private offices, more open, collaborative space, and a different location that connects better with your evolving client profile.

The natural tendency to put on blinders and simply renew your lease is cheating yourself and choking off the change your business needs to thrive.  This is a critical time for your business; a time when real estate considerations emerge from the shadows and loom large.  Bringing on an experienced tenant representation broker to help you explore your options when "you can't see the forest for the trees" will help you and your business move downstream. 

The opportunity to make key real estate decisions only comes once every several years.  Proceed unassisted at your peril.