More BOMA FAQ

As promised, here are another couple of BOMA questions and answers.

The first one is from Virge-Kai Lindaja. She had a client who asked the following question:

Question: "If after initial building construction is completed, a stairway is built between two single-tenant floors, both occupied by the same tenant, is this stairway considered Usable Area or a Vertical Penetration?"

Answer: The BOMA standard considers stairs built for the private use of a tenant occupying Office Areas on more than one floor as Rentable area. The stairway would also be part of the Usable Area of the tenant. (unless the stair gets put in as a code required fire exit)

The next question is from Jitesh Mandalia. It addresses and interesting case:

Question: "We have constructed a separate building as a second phase next to an existing one. The property manager’s office is part of the building common area of the first building. How can we assign this appropriately to both buildings?"

Answer: Shared spaced between buildings can be designated as “complex common area”. The area to be assigned to each building is fist calculated on a pro-rated basis. The area for Phase 2 has to be deducted from the gross measured area of Phase 1 and added to Phase 2.  In the BOMA calculation summary, these areas are inserted as building common areas for each building. For clarity, it is best to show them on a separate row or floor.

Note that the gross-up factor and therefore  the rentable areas for Phase 1 will decrease. The combined rentable area should be exactly the same as the total derived from a separate calculation.