Author Archives: NAI Dominion

Office Lease Square Footage Calculations

Don Catalano provides a solid explanation of Usable Square Footage and Rentable Square Footage.

When you’re comparing office spaces in search of the ideal place to lease, you want to make sure that you have a clear picture of exactly what you’re getting for the monthly cost of rent. Unfortunately, the terms used to describe square footage can make it hard to do so. Many prospective tenants find it difficult to discern usable square footage from rentable square footage and end up confused about just what they’re getting. But not to worry, we’re about to break down what each term means, so you’ll be ready to start your search.

What Is Usable Square Footage?

Usable square footage tells you just how much wall-to-wall space you’re entitled to occupy under the terms of your lease. It includes only the square footage in your actual office space–the part of the building that is uniquely yours and reserved for your business. This is the square footage that will tell you whether or not you have enough room for all of your employees, and it will tell you just how large your office will be in a particular building.

What Is Rentable Square Footage? 

Rentable square footage includes usable square footage or the size of your actual office space plus a percentage of all of the shared space in the building. It includes things like shared restrooms, lobbies, cafeterias, hallways and stairwells that your employees have access to. In addition, this figure also includes a portion of areas you do not have access to like janitorial closets and maintenance areas. Your rent will be calculated based on the rentable square footage, as you are expected to help cover the cost of maintaining the entire building.

How Is Rentable Square Footage Calculated? 

Landlords are free to set up their own method for calculating rentable square footage. They do so by establishing a load factor or common area factor that they use as a basis of calculating total rent due. Most landlords use common area factors of roughly 10 to 25 percent. Once they have established the common area factor, they calculate the rentable square footage by adding 1 to the common area factor and then multiplying that by the usable square footage.

For example, to calculate rentable square footage for a space in a building with 10,000 square feet of usable square footage and a common area factor of 20 percent you would use the following equation:

10,000 x (1 + .20)

This would give you a rentable square footage rate of 12,000 square feet. Calculations may be more complex in some cases, but this gives you a general idea of how landlords arrive at the figure. A landlord should be able and willing to tell you precisely how they calculate rentable square footage.

Comparing Office Spaces

When you are comparing spaces between buildings, it’s important that you look at the usable square footage rather than the rentable square footage, so that you know how much space you will actually have available. Two buildings with equal rental square footages may have very different usable square footage rates. In these cases, the ones with the lower common area factors will give you more usable office space for your money.

 

NAI DOMINION’S HAMPTON ROAD OFFICE NEGOTIATES TRANSACTION FOR 12,000 SQUARE FEET

CHESAPEAKE, VIRGINIA: NAI DOMINION, announces the completion of the following transaction in the Hampton Roads metropolitan market for 12,000 square feet of flex space.

Maurice Electrial leased 12,000 square feet of flex space located at 830 W. Professional Place in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake, Va.  NAI Dominion’s Patrick Reynolds represented the Landlord in the lease negotiations.  NAI Dominion also provided project management and construction management services to accomplish required tenant improvements on-time and on budget.

Maurice is part of USESI, a world-class distributor of all things electrical.  USESI is one of the country’s largest distributors of electrical components.  Made up of 11 companies—some of which have been around for more than a century—and maintain a stellar reputation in the electrical industry. Be it residential, or commercial, industrial, institutional or utility, the world runs on products and services from our best-in-class electrical distribution businesses. Privately held and American-owned, we’re committed to local decision-making and the entrepreneurial spirit. We’re innovative, growing and changing the world.

About NAI Dominion

NAI Dominion is a privately-held commercial real estate firm headquartered in Hampton Roads and Richmond, Virginia, with a global network of more than 7,000 professionals across 55 countries. Our firm serves tenants, landlords and investors in virtually every industry; and our brokers are top producers with the metro Hampton Roads and Richmond area. We are committed to being a leading provider of commercial real estate services in Central and Southeast Virginia and beyond. Our partnership with NAI Global, the largest network of independent commercial real estate firms worldwide, allows us to serve your needs across the globe. Working cooperatively, NAI offices complete over $20 billion in combined transactions annually and manage 425 million square feet of commercial space. Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies, banks and investors to private institutions and small businesses.

NAI Eagle is now NAI Dominion

We are very excited to announce that now NAI Eagle and NAI Eagle-Hampton Roads is now NAI Dominion.  This change is far more than a name rebranding it is a fundamental advancement in providing commercial real estate services to the existing clients, customers, tenants, landlords, and investors as well as expanding services in the Richmond and Hampton Roads markets.

NAI Dominion is a privately-held commercial real estate firm headquartered in Hampton Roads and Richmond, Virginia, with a global network of more than 7,000 professionals across 55 countries. Our firm serves tenants, landlords and investors in virtually every industry; and our brokers are top producers with the metro Hampton Roads and Richmond area. We are committed to being a leading provider of commercial real estate services in Central and Southeast Virginia and beyond. Our partnership with NAI Global, the largest network of independent commercial real estate firms worldwide, allows us to serve your needs across the globe. Working cooperatively, NAI offices complete over $20 billion in combined transactions annually and manage 425 million square feet of commercial space. Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies, banks and investors to private institutions and small businesses.