Chuck Smiler Answers the Question: 10.478 Billion SF

The Answer Man... For years folks have e-mailed me the question: "How many square feet of commercial space are there in the U.S.?" Now Chuck Smiler has pointed me toward an answer! Here's what he wrote.

"My favorite source of (not up to the minute) information about the characteristics of the US commercial buildings stock is the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey done by the Energy Information Agency of US DOE. The data is all easily available online for free in several formats, including downloadable data files and pdf format reports at the Energy Information Administration's home page. Based on a survey, the information includes principal building use, ownership, number of establishments, age, size and a whole host of energy related characteristics. The answer to the question depends on what you want to include: As of 1995, their estimate was 10.478 billion square feet of which 9.183 billion were non-governmental and only 2.275 were non-owner occupied. From previous work I estimate about a third to a half of the owner-occupied office space is in multiple establishment buildings, that is arguably in the rental market to some extent."

The CBECS data is based on a 1995 survey, but the next survey was scheduled for 1999. ... I've posted step-by-step instructions on accessing this data in the Property and Market Information section of PikeNet's Web Resources. ... What are your favorite Web tools and resources? Send e-mail to me at ppike@pikenet.com. Thanks!

PikeNet 2000 Travel Bargain ... It's Thursday and I just checked again. Using the special United Airlines reservation number, 800-521-4041, and PikeNet Meeting ID Code, 592MF -- I was quoted $550 for a Wed-Fri JFK-SFO roundtrip airfare!

--Peter