I assume you are referring to NNN leases in strip malls and mixed-use type leases since this forum is about franchises - besides the McDonald's of the world, franchisees are all pretty much in shared small retail. NNN is much more common in strip mall type situations versus AAA office, etc.

I started seeing NNN dominating the major markets around 15 years ago. In places like Nevada and Arizona, they were created as a vehicle to hedge additional exposure for the developer/landlord and in response to more investors looking to flip the property in a hot market where they build equity for 5 or so years off of the rent paid by tenants - versus just "living" off the cash flows like the old days.

I think the rise of NNN might have also been the other variables like common-area insurance, utilities and maintenance costs becoming more unpredictable in the late 90's. If you can get your tenants to take on all the risk of utilities, etc...that's a good deal, eh?

It went from NN to NNN to completely offload all the remaining variables to the tenants. The banks were driving the demand for NNN arrangements more than anyone else - again to offload risk.

Trouble is - what works well in a strong economy does not always function in a not so hot paradigm...it is starting to backfire. The combination of out-of-control business property tax increases, utility costs, etc. are placing pressure on the landlords...some landlords are even waiving annual escalators or lowering base rents since finding replacement tenants is not as easy as it was even 12 months ago in many markets and they certainly cannot flip that property as easily.

In my area, the vacancies and space for rent signs are quite noticeable. This is going to be interesting because the former hyper-growth municipalities are counting on business and land taxes to fill the gap caused by the other revenues decreasing. Economics 101. We'll see.