July 25, 2022
BOMA Measurements Help Landlords Reposition Properties
As landlords reposition their vacant office buildings, the addition of new amenity-rich spaces, such as video conference rooms, lounges, gyms, shower rooms, and expansive breakrooms, has created a push for space recalculation. Arium AE’s design professionals are experts in BOMA area measurement calculation methods. We have extensive knowledge of the measuring standards required for different types of buildings and spaces. Our CRE partners often call upon us to provide complete BOMA measurements for their property or building complex. Arium can begin the process with a field survey or use accurate existing plans.
What is BOMA?
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International has been the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Secretariat for the Office Standard since 1915 with the publication of the first “Standard Method of Floor Measurement.” Since 1915, the Office Standard has been revised eight times to reflect the changing needs of the commercial real estate market. In 2009, BOMA expanded its measurement standards to include the other property types—Industrial, Multi-Unit Residential, Retail, and Mixed-Use Properties, plus a standard for measuring the gross areas of a building.
BOMA measurements utilize a building-wide approach, and calculations for the entire building are required to calculate the building’s Rentable Area. Measurement information is placed on the “Global Summary of Areas Spreadsheet,” and when complete, the load factor for each floor of the building is revealed. This load factor is used to convert each tenant’s usable square footage to their Rentable Area. Floor plans can be updated with the usable and rentable areas or the rentable area and load factor. As tenant demising changes, the plans can be updated to reflect current conditions. Sometimes, a landlord may wish to cap the load factor. BOMA does allow for this if the capped load factor is less than the calculated load factor.
Arium keeps up to date with the latest releases and changes, including BOMA 2019 Industrial Standard and 2017 Office Standard. BOMA 2019 for Industrial Buildings features a single method of measurement. It generates prorated load factors for various shared space types, such as building service area, floor service area, inter-building area, etc. BOMA 2017 for Office Buildings allows amenity spaces to be spread among all buildings which utilize the amenity. This is especially important as the industry is experiencing a general reshuffling of leasable space and the repositioning of vacant office buildings with new amenity-rich spaces. In many cases, Arium has found to the owner’s advantage that new BOMA rules or correcting errors in previous base building measurements could add significant rentable space to their properties.
Have questions about BOMA? Please reach out to Robin Sanders at email or 301.621.4600.