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Forum Categories BOMA 1996 - Office Buildings Question

Sharing first floor building common area on multiple floors

Chelsea Feist: Lyall Design Architects; March 29, 2011

I am calculating building square footage of a medical office building using BOMA 1996. There is Building Common Area on the first floor only, including entry and lobby etc. However, it is shared by all floors, and I don't see how to apply it or where to plug it in to the spreadsheet on upper floors. Right now, that number is only affecting the first floor's various ratios (rentable/usable, etc). If I plug it in on each floor, it gets counted twice and starts to appear like there is that many more square feet on each floor.

How do I apply that "Building Common Area" square footage to show on all the floors?

Thanks you!

David Fingret: Extreme Measures Inc.; March 29, 2011

Hi Chelsea

Please refer to page 26 and 27 of the official BOMA 1996 publication for the calculations. You need to determine the Building R/U ratio and apply it to all tenants. In the end, the Total Rentable Area of the building should be equal to the building total Floor Rentable Area. If not, there is a mistake in your calculations.

If you want to provide us with CAD files, we could produce the area analysis for you. If interested, please call us to discuss.