When our square shaped burgers made their first sizzle on the scene more than 50 years ago, people knew our approach wasn’t like any other. Same goes for the way we support our employees. Our culture of openness, flexibility, and inclusiveness allows everybody to flourish in their own way. If you’re looking for a career where you can be part of the action as we continue to grow our iconic brand – We got you!

This position requires extensive knowledge of real estate and leases.  Manage all aspects of Wendy’s real estate portfolio while achieving the prosperous and quiet enjoyment of our restaurants; public company and lease/contract compliance and facilitating excellent tenant-landlord relationships on both the payable and receivable leases/subleases.  Negotiate resolutions to property issues in a manner that secures and promotes high restaurant sales with minimal disruption to operations.  Direct internal departments on lease compliance and communicate any contract modifications to designated internal departments. 

Communicate and interpret lease obligations to internal business clients.

• Lease Abstraction – Works with autonomy to:
  • Confirm document terms are consistent with the lease and approved deal terms,
  • Clarify language intent and deal points;
  • accurately abstract critical data and communicate key points to company;
  • Abstract critical lease information for new leases into Tango Database; process and document property transactions to company via deal memos.
• Contract Modifications – Acts as lead and point person to:
  • Manage lease terms for new leases, renewals and amendments, abstract terms into Tango database; export and distribute critical date and property reports.
  • Abstract new data and communicate updates to the company (including notifying accounting of any amounts that should be accrued)
• Surrender
  • Communicate multiple lease interpretations relating to surrender and the identifying and articulating risks of each; communicate with legal, franchisee, real estate, and landlord to reach resolution and/or settlement (e.g. legal risks of closing operations prior to contract end dates, performing major repairs upon vacating).
  • surrender requirements upon business closures;
• Respond to time-sensitive property questions and/or requests, etc. on a daily basis from operations, real estate, risk, tax and accounting groups (i.e., provide counsel regarding property boundary and maintenance responsibility, document interpretation, property history, company protocol, etc.).
• Comply with all internal and external controls (e.g., checklists, internal processes and procedures, and public company compliance).

Manage Landlord Relationship – Acts with autonomy on the following.  Include legal and real estate departments only when necessary:

• Interface closely with accounting to accurately set up new landlords for payment and to ensure immediate carry-over of rental payment.
• Negotiate property and lease issue resolutions with both prime landlords as well as leading the communication and monitoring the completion of items to be completed as part of resolution.
• Negotiate resolution as a result of issues arising from landlord inspections, property closures,maintenance requests and property and common area expense issues.  This is accomplished by reviewing title work, surveys, site plans and lease and amendment language.
• Review change of ownership documentation.
• Counsel property owners on the documentation necessary in order to transfer payment and legal notification over to new owner(s); i.e., review of trust documents, lease assignments, deeds, and/or court documentation; manage all payee changes, confirm the change is accurate in the Wendy’s system (e.g., name changes, address changes, contact changes), 5 – 10 on average per week.
• Acts as point person between prime landlord, accounting and other internal departments for changes in rent and CAM billing due to lease or amendment language.  Processing payment and billing requests made necessary by lease and amendment changes.

Manage Tenant/Subtenant Relationship.

• Manage and negotiate property and lease issue resolutions between prime landlords & Subtenants in the best interests of subtenant/franchisee while balancing the franchisee’s adherence to their franchise agreement by working with franchise department.
• Review subleases, prime leases and amendments to determine responsibilities of subtenant/franchisee.  Leads communication between parties to come to a fair and equitable resolution and then monitor to make sure all that is promised is completed.
• Act as point person between subtenant/franchisee and accounting and other internal departments to process rent billing and credit due to a rent increase or reduction per a sublease or sublease amendment or letter agreement.
• Review change of ownership documentation.

Support Real Estate Department in Management of Existing Lease Portfolio

• Manage lease portfolio area to ensure that all renewal, ROFR and ROFO deadlines are met.
• Work with real estate team to accurately initiate CAPCOM/FPM submission; accurately communicate financial and other critical lease information in order to ensure the most economical operations at each unit.

Site Management  

• Coordinate with neighboring property ownership and develop relationships to obtain and/or negotiate documents that will lead to increased sales (e.g., access agreements, maintenance liability documents, etc.).
• Partner with in-house and local counsel on all real estate litigation and other legal matters; participate in all conference calls; assist in discovery responses and mediation.
• Protect restaurants by researching public hearing notices to determine impact to Wendy’ business; research to determine any existing restrictions, provide guidance and coordinate appearances and/or responses.
• Manage all property emergency situations; i.e., locate landlords in the event immediate signature is required prior to commencing construction to make repairs, and/or if work must be coordinated amongst adjoining property owners, etc.
• Event of discrepancies or ambiguity – work on amending lease; draft documentation with in-house legal and landlords.

Insurance

• Manages all lease mandated insurance requirements per the lease and with franchisees.
• Provide prime lease insurance language to tenant/subtenant or their insurer and work with our internal insurance/risk department on resolving insurance issues and problems.
• Refine and update insurance database.

#LI-Onsite

• Bachelor's Degree is required, Paralegal Degree is preferred.
• 3-4  minimum years’ experience in retail / commercial real estate (e.g., leases, amendments, assignments, deeds, estoppels, SNDA’s, license agreements, easements, declarations, etc.)
• 3+ years’ experience in lease / portfolio management preferred
• At least 2 years’ experience in bookkeeping/accounting
• Ability to abstract lease documents, translate advanced contract language
• Ability to read plans and surveys
• Strong analytical, business communications, and customer service (internal and external) skills.  Need to be well organized with high level of attention to detail and accuracy
• Advanced level of proficiency in Outlook, Word and Excel
• Knowledge of Oracle, Tango and Gateway databases
• Ability to handle fast paced, deadline driven environment
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize assignments to meet date deadlines

“Wendy’s was built on the premise, "Quality is our Recipe®," which remains the guidepost of the Wendy's system. Today, Wendy's and its franchisees employ hundreds of thousands of people across more than 7,000 restaurants worldwide with a vision of becoming the world's most thriving and beloved restaurant brand.

The base pay range for this position is listed below. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and budget for the open position and also may vary depending on the candidate’s job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, among other relevant factors.  This range does not include an estimated value for any benefits, bonus, or other incentives that may be applicable based on position. *  The target annual bonus for this role is 7.5% of annualized base salary, based on actual company and personal performance. 

Our square burgers make us different and so do our benefits!  Our restaurant support roles are eligible for a wide array of benefits, including things such as parental leave, free EAP sessions, company 401k match and other great offerings.  For more details about our benefits, including an overview of eligibility and terms for certain benefits, please visit our benefits website, www.wendysbenefits.com.*

*NOTE: Wendy’s benefits, bonus, and other incentives are governed by the applicable legal plans and policies and, where appropriate, may be subject to Board approval an individual award agreement terms.  Those documents supersede all other information regarding Wendy’s benefits, bonus, and other incentives.  Wendy’s retains the right to amend or terminate its plans and policies at its sole discretion, in accordance with applicable plans, policies and laws.”