
In 2010,
the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) released their first
Standard Method of Measurement specifically designed for Retail Space. Prior to this, BOMA did not address the
measurement of retail space, except where it existed within office buildings,
and so measurement of retail space was done solely as a sub-set of the Office
Standard. With a Standard dedicated specifically
to retail space, BOMA was able address a much wider variety of retail space as
well as incorporate industry-specific scenarios.
In 2020,
BOMA released an updated version of the Retail Standard. The updated version was more comprehensive
and provided greater clarity over its previous original version. It also introduced the following advancements:
·
Two
levels of measurement:
o
Partial
Measurement
o
Overall
Measurement
·
“Inter-Building
Area”
·
The
concept of the “Retail Experience”
Two
Levels of Measurement
Partial Measurement
When a building contains multiple leased units,
partial measurement may be employed in order to calculate the Gross Leasable
Area (GLA) for a single unit. This allows landlords to calculate a certified
GLA for any individual unit, without the need to measure the entire building. Leasable Exclusions benefitting the measured
space can be measured in order to complete Inter-Building area calculations.
This helps landlords determine the common area and maintenance fees for the
occupant.
Although Partial Measurement allows a single space
to be certified, any adjacent spaces may still need to be accessed in order to
determine the thickness of demising walls, and confirm wall priority between
spaces.
Overall Measurement
As the name suggests, this is a complete measurement
of the retail property. The Overall
Measurement of a retail space is recommended by BOMA over the Partial
Measurement since it provides a complete picture of the building (it is also
less invasive to tenants since units only need to be visited once). When landlords have access to more information
(available through Overall Measurement) they are able to make better-informed
decisions regarding the efficient use of space in their building.
Inter-Building
Area
In the
original BOMA Retail Standard, the GLA of a tenant space was effectively
defined as the space physically occupied by a particular tenant—parking lots,
major vertical penetrations, and the various common areas were not allocated to
the occupants of a retail building. The
latest Standard changes this by providing landlords with the option to allocate
this space (called “Inter-Building Area”) to the various occupants who benefit
from it.
A simple
example of Inter-Building Area can be found with a shopping mall with available
on-site parking. The standard allows us
to take this parking area and proportionately allocate it amongst the occupants
of the mall.
Example: Imagine a building with a total GLA of 30,0000
ft2 and an associated parking lot of 10,000 ft2. We can calculate how much can be allocated to
a tenant based on the percentage of total GLA that they occupy. If Occupant #1
has a GLA of 5,000 ft2, their proportionate share of the building is
5,000 ft2 / 30,000 ft2 = 16.67%. The tenant will then be allocated 16.67% of
the parking lot, in this case 16.67% X 10,000 ft2 = 1,667 ft2.
The
“Retail Experience”
When you
walk into a nice restaurant, there are several factors which contribute to your
overall experience—the nice carpet, fancy lighting, music, an outdoor patio or
rooftop terrace, etc. All these factors
contribute to the “Retail Experience”, a concept that is introduced in the 2020
BOMA Retail Standard.
This
concept allows landlords to define (and capture) unenclosed areas of a retail
property which contribute to the overall shopping environment. These factors are most notable in strip malls and
restaurants since they often include permanent outdoor areas. Covid-19 restrictions led to a surge in patio
dining, however in the past, landlords had no way of capturing these areas
within a tenant’s retail space. If these features are permanent, and under the
exclusive use of a particular tenant, landlords now have the ability to capitalise
on these features by including them in the certified GLA of the tenant space.
Are you unsure if you
are efficiently utilising every square foot in you building? Our Lasercad® division would be happy to certify
your space to the latest measurement standard, ensuring that you know exactly
what you’re working with!
Tyler Manning is a consultant in our Valuation Division and is heavily
involved in many of our Lasercad® projects. For more information about our range of Lasercad® services, feel free to contact Tyler at (902)
429-1811 or tmanning@turnerdrake.com.