For a new office, yes—secured premises are required evidence at filing, so a lease or purchase must precede the petition. The financial risk is that a refused petition leaves the company with a lease and no manager to run the branch, which is a business decision to make with eyes open.
Premises are evidence, so they are also a sunk cost
The new-office rule asks the petitioner to show that sufficient physical premises to house the operation have been secured. A letter of intent, an option or a plan to lease after approval does not satisfy that requirement, and a petition filed without a lease is usually a wasted filing fee. The Kent dealer therefore pays rent, deposits and often fit-out costs for a service bay before it knows whether the manager will be approved.
Reduce the exposure sensibly: negotiate a lease with an early-termination clause tied to the petition outcome, keep initial equipment purchases modest, and delay hiring U.S. technicians until the manager can be present. On the immigration ledger, the Form I-129 fee and any premium-processing charge are set out in the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, and a separate fringe-benefit or asylum-program fee may apply depending on the employer's size; check the schedule on the filing date rather than relying on last year's figure.