Selling Your Business at Retirement: What To Do With the Building
You spent decades building a business out of that building. Now you’re selling the company and retiring, and the real estate has become its own decision, separate from the business sale, with its own buyer pool, its own price, and its own tax treatment.
Most retiring owners reach this point with the same questions. Sell the building when I sell the business, or separately? Hold it and lease it back to whoever buys the company? Take the income for ten more years and sell later? The right answer depends on your tax position, your timeline, and the specific building you own.
ELIFIN tracked 1,506 commercial sales across the Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette metros in 2025, including 395 office, industrial, and retail buildings between $500,000 and $5 million. That’s the band most retiring business owners’ buildings fall into. ELIFIN is Louisiana’s #1 commercial real estate brokerage by number of sales, with offices and specialist agents in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette.
Four paths owners actually take
The decision usually narrows to one of four structures. Each has its own buyer pool, timing, and tax treatment.
1. Sell the building with the business
The simplest path. The buyer of your company wants the address, equipment, customer list, and building together. The building is valued separately on the closing statement so capital gains and depreciation recapture allocate correctly between the entities. The trade-off: this is also the path that most often leaves money on the table, since the business buyer isn’t competing with owner-users or 1031 investors for the real estate.
2. Sell the building separately, often vacant
Common when the buyer of the company doesn’t want the real estate. They’re consolidating into another facility, or they don’t want capital tied up in a building. The building goes to an owner-user looking to relocate, or to an investor building a portfolio.
3. Hold the building, lease to whoever buys the company
The retirement-income path. You sell the operating company, sign a 7-, 10-, or 15-year lease with the buyer, and collect monthly rent. Works especially well when the new operator is well-capitalized and the building is hard to replicate. Structured right (long-term lease, creditworthy tenant, true NNN terms with market rent and built-in escalations), the building becomes an investment-grade asset that can later trade to a net lease investor or 1031 buyer at a higher number than it would have brought vacant or as part of the business sale.
4. Sale-leaseback before the business sale
You sell the building to a third-party investor now. The company signs a long-term lease as the tenant. You take the building’s equity off the table at retirement-friendly cap rates, and the buyer of the company inherits a clean rent obligation instead of a real estate decision.
What the building is worth, and who’s buying
Buildings like yours sell to three buyer pools: other operating businesses looking to own rather than lease, local investors building rental portfolios, and out-of-state 1031 buyers exchanging out of higher-priced markets like Houston, Dallas, and California. At least one of these pools is chasing every retiring owner’s property.
Pricing comes down to two questions. What’s the building worth as an income-producing asset (cap rate times in-place or market NOI), and what’s it worth to a business that wants to occupy it? The two numbers are often different. A 12,000-square-foot industrial building in Broussard with a long-term creditworthy tenant might trade at a 7.5% cap rate. The same building empty might trade thirty percent higher on a price-per-square-foot basis to an oilfield services operator who needs the address. Knowing which buyer pool to chase is what the broker is paid to figure out.
ELIFIN’s agents made 58,041 prospecting calls in 2025. When your building goes to market, our specialist agents already know which businesses are looking, which investors are sitting on 1031 capital, and which competitors are quietly expanding. That’s how buildings like yours reach the right buyer at the right price.
The mistake we see most often: pricing the building based on what the buyer of the company is willing to pay for it as part of a larger transaction. That price is usually less than what an independent buyer would pay for the same building on the open market. Starting the real estate conversation 6 to 12 months before the business sale gives you optionality. Starting it the same week the business sells locks you into one path under deadline pressure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I sell my commercial building when I sell my business?
It depends on the buyer of your operating company. If they want the address, equipment, location, and customer access, selling them together is the cleanest closing. The building is valued separately on the closing statement so capital gains and depreciation recapture allocate correctly. The trade-off: this is also the path that most often leaves money on the table. The business buyer isn’t competing with owner-users or 1031 investors for the real estate, which usually means it trades below open-market value. Selling the building separately to a buyer who wants only the real estate usually nets more, even if the timeline is longer.
What is a sale-leaseback, and is it good for retirement?
A sale-leaseback is when you sell the building to a third-party investor and your operating company signs a long-term lease as the tenant, usually 7 to 15 years. You take the equity off the table now, the company keeps its address, and the buyer of the company inherits a clean rent obligation rather than a real estate decision.
Who buys retiring business owners’ commercial buildings in Louisiana?
Three buyer pools. Other operating businesses looking to own rather than lease. Local investors building rental portfolios. Out-of-state 1031 buyers exchanging out of higher-priced markets like Houston, Dallas, and California.
How long does it take to sell a commercial building in Louisiana?
Most owner-occupied buildings between $500,000 and $5 million sell in 4 to 9 months from listing to closing. Buildings sold with an in-place tenant on a long-term lease often move faster, since they’re underwritten as income-producing assets. Empty buildings sell to owner-users, which is a different and sometimes slower buyer pool. Pricing the building correctly out of the gate is the single biggest factor in time to close.
Selling Your Business? Don’t Skip the Building Decision.
Start the real estate conversation 6 to 12 months before the business sale. ELIFIN’s specialist agents know the buyer pool for your specific building, and the right structure for your situation.
Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a qualified tax advisor and attorney before making decisions regarding the sale of a business or commercial real estate.