I know absolutely nothing about these agreements, but the idea seems at least plausible. An unoccupied building doesn’t get problems noticed or fixed, and could result in squatting.

It’s called a go dark clause. Fairly common in retail, not as common in office but it happens.

this is the proposed theory, basically: You have a contract for a 1 year lease but stop paying, getting evicted after the second month.

Saved 10 month of obligations

Don't those leases have stipulations that are like "upon eviction the whole lease becomes due"?

I hope not. When I was forced to leave my place, I couldn't even manage to pay the electricity bill. It'd simply be impossible for me to afford such a hefty sum + compound interest + late penalty fees, if the Landlord pursued me in a manner that led to my future wages being garnished to cover all that.

I resided there for four years and consistently paid on time, but by the fifth year, I simply couldn't meet all the financial obligations. I sincerely wish the Justice system would show more leniency instead of demanding that I repay the entire lease upon eviction.

Residential leases and commercial leases are wildly different. Residential leases are fairly boilerplate but commericial leases are bespoke and negotiated.

I think there was a grocery store in the Cupertino Vallco some years before it was torn down. They were dark with a small table out front selling apples on the honor system. As I understand they had some lease provision that they would be open to drive customer visits to the mall.