Amazing But True: (Net Rentable) Space Expands!

Honey, Who Blew Up the Buildings? ... Tuesday's Dispatch, Phantom Space: You Gotta Problem? (Oct 10) generated true stories about mysteriously expanding real estate.

Peter Gottesman with CRESA Partners in Washington, D.C., represented a tenant in New York City. "While we were negotiating the lease, the building went into contract to be sold [by an insurance company] to a major local New York owner. The new ownership let my deal go through. Within a week after closing, the footage for these floors went up from 15,100 to 18,363 rentable square feet." [That's a 21.6% increase.]

Frank Fudem with NAI BT Commercial in San Francisco leased an entire floor of 11,528 rentable sq. ft. Seventeen years later he leased a portion of the same floor, which had grown mysteriously. "That same full floor now comprises 13,215 rentable sq. ft., an increase of 1,687 rentable sq. ft., or 14.6%."

David Rothrock at Meriwether Partners in Seattle recently negotiated a full floor sublease for one of his tenants. His architect "determined the full floor BOMA measurement was 10,817 rentable sq. ft., not the 13,325 rentable sq. ft. that the East Coast-based sublandlord had been paying for previously... The 2,508 rentable sq. ft. discrepancy had cost the New York tenant $92,796 per year over their 7-year lease term or $649,572 total." Oops.

Bob Verdun of Computerized Facility Integration (CFI), whose firm has measured over 650 million sq. ft. for Fortune 500 clients, is not surprised. "The actual [CAD-measured] numbers are almost always different. Guess who usually has the higher numbers… of course, the landlord."

Note... Two friends, Steve Callaway at AMB in San Francisco and Jeff Weil at Colliers International in Walnut Creek, CA, noted that BOMA's Tuesday newsletter (coincidentally!) touted BOMA's office and industrial measurement standards.

-- Peter Pike