Tenant's Right of First Refusal on Adjacent Property and Functional Unity of Business Premises

A tenant, who had purchased the building he occupied, sought to invoke a right of first refusal concerning the sale of an adjacent commercial property to a third party, arguing that the two premises formed a single operational unit, but the appellate court dismissed this claim, holding that the lack of an explicit reference to the adjacent unit in the original lease agreement precluded the application of the statutory right of preemption which requires the same professional activity to be conducted in both leased spaces. The Supreme Court quashed the decision, ruling that the right of first refusal is applicable where the leased premises are functionally necessary to the exercise of the professional activity being conducted, even if the two spaces were not formally linked in the initial contract, provided the professional activity is identical in both locations.