Why would Shopping Centre Landlord allege to me that a vacancy is unavailable, but let Commercial Realtors lease that same vacancy?
I own small business in Hong Kong. I must lease retail space. 2 weeks ago, I saw a vacancy at a shopping centre — Shop 23. I emailed the Landlord called New World Development Company Limited — abbreviation NWD. I copy-paste Leasing Manager's email.

&gt;Upon review, we regret that the captioned shop (Shop 23 which you mentioned) cannot be leased to your company. Our mall has no suitable space for your company right now. We shall keep your interest on our list. If leasing space becomes available for you, we shall contact you again.

I got desperate and contacted CBRE Hong Kong. Their Director for Retail Leasing then recommended THAT SAME Shop 23!!! I didn't tell Director I previously contacted NWD in vain. Then Director contacted NWD to express my interest, and NWD emailed me the Tenancy Agreement. 

Assume this vacancy wasn't under offer or unavailable two weeks ago — assume it didn't suddenly become free. Why would NWD allege vacancy isn't available to me, when it is? Why would NWD reserve it to commercial realtors? Why make Tenants use Middle Men? 

CBRE charges Tenant and Landlord 50% of one month's lease. If NWD leases directly with me, we both save money and don't have to pay CBRE. See why I'm confused???
[{"id": "hb0ebj7", "text": "Whoever you contacted was not the right person &amp; didn't want to deal with or didn't believe that you were a legit tenant.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hb0eu5b", "text": "In retail merchandising mix is often determined by the leasing agent. First guy just straight up didnt like your business. CBRE wants their commission and was fine leasing to you.  Brokers are always more willing to lease space.", "replies": [{"id": "hbpwj7c", "text": "&gt;CBRE wants their commission and was fine leasing to you\n\nSorry...I'm perplexed. CBRE doesn't own that vacancy, the Landlord does. So how can CBRE be allowed to lease it out, if the Landlord is forbidden to?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hb0ggwl", "text": "When it comes to retail, tenant mix in a shopping center or mall is important.  You don't want 3 different coffee shop brands all competing with each other in the same center.\n\nIt may simply have been that the owner thought your business would not be a synergistic fit with the other tenants and the leasing broker disagreed.  The leasing broker is the expert in this aspect and I'm uncertain about why you're complaining about their services if they ended up being the reason you got the space.\n\nAlso, the ownership pays their fees and expects them to get market rent.  Working with you directly, means that they have to do all the vetting, negotiation, legal, etc.  Even if they were to save money on fees, your \"discount\" lowers the average rent at the property which affects the credit profile of the property to the lender.  Other prospective tenants will also point to the discounted rent and will want the same deal.  \n\nThe headache of doing all that work with every tenant isn't worth it to a large owner/developer (or even a small one). \n\nHence, why brokers exist.", "replies": [{"id": "hbmq4f6", "text": "&gt; Working with you directly, means that they have to do all the vetting, negotiation, legal, etc.\n\nCan I play Devil's Advocate? If CBRE or some commercial leasing agent craves commission, wouldn't they represent any PUTATIVELY reputable tenant? Would the commercial leasing agent vet their client as much as the Landlord would themselves? If not, then why would broker representation matter?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hb0hnlo", "text": "I am generally more hesitant when leasing directly to a tenant with no broker representation. It\u2019s not about saving money on commissions, it\u2019s about having a credit worthy tenant paying rent over the entire term. A tenant rep will usually at least have vetted their client.", "replies": [{"id": "hbmpqgd", "text": "&gt;A tenant rep will usually at least have vetted their client.\n\nCan I play Devil's Advocate? If CBRE or some commercial leasing agent craves commission, wouldn't they represent any PUTATIVELY reputable tenant? Would the commercial leasing agent vet their client as much as the Landlord would themselves? If not, then why would broker representation matter?", "replies": [{"id": "hbn4klc", "text": "You\u2019re not wrong, a commission hungry broker will represent who they can sign. Speaking just to my experience, we definitely do not take some prospects as seriously if they are not represented or if their broker has a bad rep. For each market, it\u2019s not so much the agency but the individual broker that I\u2019m looking to. I\u2019m not going to spend that much time trying to figure out if the prospect will be a good fit if they don\u2019t have someone vouching for them first. I\u2019ll still do my diligence, but having a reputable tenant rep is worth something. \n\nI deal mostly with the JLL\u2019s , CBRE\u2019s and the like, and their local reps would not bring me a bad prospect because it could hurt our relationship and potentially future deals.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hb0xm7b", "text": "Maybe your use of restricted by a restrictive covenant on the shopping centre, ie your business is an athletic shoe store, and another athletic shoe store is already a tenant, and the landlord promised the first tenant not to rent space in the shopping centre to a similar shoe store.", "replies": [{"id": "hbpwoaj", "text": "No offense....your comment perplexes me. If a restrictive covenant restricts OP's use, then why could CBRE lease to OP and make this deal work?", "replies": [{"id": "hbq7733", "text": "Maybe the leasing agent didn't realize the restrictive covenant, ie a mistake.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "hbq79nt", "text": "Just because they sent a leasing agreement doesn't mean the lease gets signed by the LL", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]