When a free standing retail tenant goes dark, who's responsibility is it to provide security of the building?
That depends on the terms of the lease. Most Landlords will pass this responsibility on to their tenants if its a NNNet lease, and certainly, the fact that the retailer went dark does NOT excuse them from their responsibility under the lease agreement. That said, while it may be the retailer's responsibility, it is likely that this tenant has abandoned the location and will not want to spend additional dollars to secure it if they've taken all their product out. If you are concerned about the security of the building yourself in order to preserve it for future use, you may consider stepping in to secure the building. There may even be provisions in the lease that allow the landlord to charge back the tenant for these additional expenses.
Although the terms of the lease may be specific to address this - if the tenant has abandoned the property then ultimately it is up to the owner of the property to take care of the building until such time as it can be leased to another tenant. That being said - certainly the landlord may have rights to charge the tenant for such costs but that would require an attorney to review the language, the situation, the ability of the tenant to pay such costs relative to their continued obligation under the terms of the lease.
Read the Lease Agreement. If lease is NNN then it usually is the responsibility of the tenant, but if tenant doesn't step up the Landlord should protect his investment and secure the building and charge tenant.
Depends on lease ... but if the lease is expired, then it's all on the landlord. One of the joys of owning commercial real estate.