Increase in bankruptcy filings prompt landlords to rethink leases: Upswing in Chapter 11 filings linked to poor economy. (Real Estate).(Brief Article)

A staggering increase in Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings has many landlords, taking a closer look at their lease agreements for commercial tenants.

"Tenant bankruptcies are on the rise because there's been an increase in Chapter 11 filings nationally and locally," said attorney Jim Newell, who practices in the creditors' rights and bankruptcy group at the Downtown law firm of Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling.

Mr. Newell said the bankruptcies can be linked, in part, to the economy, which has gone deeper into a tailspin since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said Klett Rooney is currently handling bankruptcy cases involving tenants who have space in Pittsburgh, California and across the country.

Attorney Jeffery Deller, a senior associate in Klett Rooney's bankruptcy group, said many of the commercial bankruptcies filed within the past 18 months have been on behalf of large companies like Phar-Mor, based in Youngstown, Ohio; Ames out of Delaware and Pittsburgh-based National …