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In 2021, BOMA International released a significant update to the BOMA 2012 Mixed-Use Standard, now known as “BOMA 2021 for Mixed-Use Properties.” This new version greatly simplifies the steps required to determine mixed-use common area allocations and to successfully measure and report all the areas of a mixed-use property. Additionally, it offers substantially more flexibility regarding the disclosure of areas of interest and compatibility with almost all older and future BOMA single-use standards. This is a notable improvement over the 2012 version, which was only compatible with single-use BOMA standards of the same era.
Moreover, the new standard allows for the application of non-BOMA standards to various use components found in a mixed-use property. Many other enhancements are included in the 2021 BOMA Mixed-Use Standard, which will serve stakeholders of this essential asset class well for years to come.
In 2011, BOMA released "Mixed-Use Properties: Standard Methods of Measurement (2012) or (ANSI/BOMA Z65.6-2012)."
BOMA International produced the mixed-use standard in an effort to adapt to the ongoing trend in real estate to construct multi-purpose buildings. In essence, the standard provides a methodology of connecting the existing individual standards; namely, the 2009 Gross Areas Standard, the 2010 Multi-Unit Residential Standard, the 2010 Retail Standard, the 2010 Office Standard and the 2012 Industrial Standard.
When using the mixed-use standard, each of the relevant individual standards are directly employed to each “use component” in the building. For example, if the building has an office component, a retail component and a multi-unit residential component, each corresponding BOMA standard is used in the mixed-use property.
The critical feature of the mixed use standard is the allocation of areas shared between the use components, known as “Mixed-Use Common Areas” or “MUCA”. The standard provides a rather complicated methodology of calculating such areas by incorporating the Exterior Gross Area (or EGA) in the Gross Areas Standard and making significant efforts to maintain the integrity of the individual standards applicable to the mixed-use property. This is especially evident when there is an office use component in the property since only the office standard allocates common area, and consequently, MUCA areas to tenants. Furthermore, the BOMA office standard measures to the inside finished surface (IGA) whereas the other standards measure to the equivalent of the outside finished surface (EGA). In order to account for the differences, a special “IGA/EGA Ratio” is established and applied to the office use component.
Extreme Measures is the editor and illustrator of the BOMA 2021 for Mixed-Use Properties standard.