An office building owner (owner) moved for summary judgment dismissing a complaint. The plaintiff, a commercial tenant, opposed the motion and cross-moved for summary judgment on its causes of action and to dismiss the owner’s counterclaims. The parties had executed a lease for part of the twelfth floor of the subject building (building). At the same time, the parties entered into a separate lease with a related, but different entity, for part of the eighth floor of the same building. Each lease required the owner to reimburse the tenant for all improvements made by the tenants, pursuant to a tenant improvement allowance (TIA) agreement. To receive the TIA, the tenants were required to request reimbursement and submit documentation to the owner within eighteen months of the commencement of the leases.

On Aug. 13, 2014, a manager for the tenants’ “parent” corporation submitted a combined reimbursement request for both leases, totaling approximately $2 million. On the same day, the owner advised the tenants’ project manager that the tenants’ TIA reimbursement request had to be separated since they involved two separate leases. The owner also advised that the request was to be on company letterhead, the request appeared to exceed the combined amount for the leases’ TIA and “soft costs” were not to exceed 20% of the requested TIA payment.