"Industry Standard" Office Space Measurement

Different cities, different landlords, different space measurement methods! Accurately defining your leased square footage is important. How can you best protect your company's interests and assume that you are getting the amount of usable and rentable square footage that you bargained for?

Since 1915, the BOMA Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings has been the only floor measurement method for commercial real estate approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The BOMA measurement standard is a must for tenants, building owners, facilities managers, appraisers, architects, leasing professionals and lending institutions when calculating leases, allocating building expenses to cost centers, or comparing occupancy costs, loads and efficiencies.

Office building design has evolved considerably in the last 20 years, encompassing a host of building-wide amenities including spacious entrance lobbies with concierge services, health clubs, daycare centers, per diem conference rooms, and the like. It became evident that the BOMA Standard needed to reflect the fact that these design elements provided a benefit to all building tenants. In 1996, the Standard was completely revised to reflect a more complete and equitable method of floor measurement.

The ANSI/BOMA Z.65.1 (1996) is a building-wide method. That means it fairly accounts for spaces in the building that benefit all tenants. To calculate a tenant's Rentable Area, you have to first define such terms as Dominant Portion, Usable Area, Floor Common Area, Floor Rentable Area and Building Common Area. Many of these are new definitions, but in general the Rentable Area equals the usable area plus a percentage of the common area on the floor, hallways, bathrooms, telephone closets, building lobbies and demising/exterior partitions.

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The Acclaim Group is a corporate real estate services firm that specializes in local and national tenant representation. Acclaim's multi-disciplined team has developed a highly detailed tenant representation methodology that insures its clients superior results for every project. To learn more about the Acclaim Advantage, contact us toll-free at 888-536-3137.

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