Leasing Space? What you need to know! BOMA, Rentable vs. Usable

Buildings are typically measured using a standing method called “building owners and managers association” or BOMA measurement standards. 1915 BOMA first published an accepted and approved methodology of floor measurement for office buildings by the American National Standards institute.  As design standards have changed throughout the years, so has the way BOMA measurement standards are used.

Area calculations from field measurements will most likely never be exactly the same, but considered accurate when results are within 2% or less.

Building measurements are given in terms of Rentable Square Foot (RSF) and Useable Square Foot (USF).  The RSF is the USF plus the Common Areas.  Common areas are considered to be restrooms, elevator lobby, hallways, stairwells, mechanical rooms, etc. These areas are not exclusive to any one tenant, but are shared by all tenants.  Let’s say for example the total RSF of an office building is 10,000 sq. ft. and the Common Area is 1,500 sq. ft .  10,000 sq. ft. - 1,500 sq. ft. = 8,500 sq. ft. of USF.

 A Load Factor is a multiplier to a tenant's USF that accounts for the tenant's proportionate share of the common area.  A load factor can typically range from 15% to as high as 30% for a multi-tenant floor.  In the above example the load factor is 1,500/10,000=15%

For example, leasing a 2,000 sq. ft. office space with a Load Factor of 15% would give you (2,000 sq. ft. – 15% = 1,700 sq. ft.) of Useable space.

Higher load factors may not always mean less, as often times other amenities such as atriums and spacious lobbies are appealing to clients and guests.  Also to note, Tenants occupying an entire floor will not have shared hallways or shared bathrooms and can be charged a lower load factor than a tenant on a multi-tenant floor as their common area will be less.  Knowing your load factor can really save you a lot of money.

San Fernando Valley 3rd Quarter Office and Industrial Market Report

All-around improvements show stability, but growht still elusive

Office - Full Report

Market sees little change as leasing remains constant

Industrial - Full Report

Shamrock Plaza Professional Office - Agoura Hills & Calabasas Chamber Event

9444 Irondale Avenue - Chatsworth Industrial Warehouse

9444 Irondale Ave, located in Chatsworth, near De Soto Ave and Plummer St. Situated within the Enterprise Zone and offers several tax credits and incentive.

Located on a quite cul-de-sac with plenty of street parking and great cinergy between businesses.  

The gated back access and reserved parking is an additional feature of this building. The open alley is an added benefit for businesses conducting delivery and shipping.

Pebbled accent finishes and landscaping add subtle touches to the facade and offers a warm welcome to guests and visitors. 

The entrance opens ups to reveal a blank canvas perfect for a waiting room or reception area. The private office overlooks the Warehouse and is just steps from the updated restroom.

The Fully Air conditioned warehouse offers 1,940 of RSF, plenty of height clearance, 10X10 ground level roll up door, Water, MR2 Zoning, back parking access, Power at 50 amps at 240V, 3 phase, and 100 amps at 110/240V Single phase.

Clean, newly repainted and ready for move in. 9444 Irondale Ave. is ready to have your businesses.

Woodcourt - Woodland Hills Professional Office, Medical and Retail Space for Lease

Woodcourt, located in Woodland Hills, centrally located and just south of the 101 freeway, between De Soto Ave. and Winnetka Ave. at 20251-20315 Ventura Blvd.  The area is within close proximity to plenty of services, restaurants and all major transportation corridors with public transportation at its doorstep. 

Woodcourt offers a creative mix of Professional Office, Medical, and Retail space with Ventura Blvd frontage and monumental signage available.

Here at Woodcourt, there is a variety of efficient spaces and layouts and with the ability to create your ideal space whether it be an affordable, or flexible space for a growing start-up company, a professional office setting with abundant window line or a doctor’s office built to suite with all the high end touches.

Woodcourt’s lush landscaping and calming water features are unique elements that gives Woodcourt the sophisticated elegance yet casual environment that fuses professional office space with it’s open and flowing design.

Woodcourt offers newly built-out and ready to move in office spaces.  Generous Tenant Improvement Allowances are available for creating those one-off designs for your company or business specific needs.  In addition, some of the suites also feature a conference room, open bullpen area, kitchen, server & telephone room, private restrooms and reception area.  

Abundant surface and covered parking is available. Free Visitor Parking makes way for convenience and ease of access for guests. 

The lush and tranquil like setting is a unique feature to the professional offices and prominent Ventura Blvd address only found here at Woodcourt. 

Los Angeles Class A Office Vacancy Recovery! Are We There Yet?

Optimism is echoed as compared to the previous quarters by many office investors and business owners. A recent leasing survey by local real estate professionals show lease transactions consummating but at a steady and slow pace. Renewals by Tenants are keeping the vacancy factor constant as long as Tenants are not leaving. We are not seeing many new businesses located in the local area making sideways moves. Many Landlord Leasing Representatives are targeting quality tenants located just outside the local market in hope of brining them in. Businesses that have weathered the storm by now, are able to take a slight breath as the overall sluggish economic moves in a positive direction but at snails pace.  Construction has yet to be seen, however there is buzz out there that projects are going to begin. 

Los Angeles Business Journal Article

Woodland Hills Class A Office For Lease - Warner Premier Tour

 Warner Premier is a Class A professional office building is centrally located in the Warner Center and the city of Woodland Hills. This prime Warner Center location has great visibility and convenient access to the (101) Ventura Freeway.
The address is 5550 Topanga Canyon, Woodland Hills and is located on the signalized corner of Burbank Boulevard and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. This location also benefits from the State Enterprise Zone. The property features highly efficient floor plates, abundant window lines and state of the art security and HVAC system. Warner Premier is parked 3.5:1,000 and offers both reserved and covered parking.
For more information and availability of space for lease, please contact Eric Nishimoto at the Calabasas Lee & Associates 818-223-4388

San Fernando Valley & Conejo Valley 1st Quarter Office and Industrial Market Report

The San Fernando Valley and Conejo Valley leasing market continues to slowly move forward. Landlords are trying to keep LEASE RATES as high as possible. In turn giving tenants free rent to mitigate the difference in asking rates verses actual lease rate. Short term deals in AS-IS condition is very common to smaller types of tenants. Tenants are still shopping the market to use as a negoiating tool as their lease comes closer to it's end.  The renewal lease market is still very strong but at discounted rates and a lot of free rent.    

Click on the Full Report Link below to see the entire 1st quarter report.

San Fernando Valley Office Asking Rates 

Full Report

San Fernando Valley Industrial Asking Rates

Full Report

Ventura Office Asking Rates

Full Report

 Ventura Industrial Asking Rates

Full Report

San Fernando Valley Commerical Real Estate Brokerage Firms 2010 Ranking - Top of List Ranks Lee & Associates LA North/Ventura, Inc.

The San Fernando Valley Business Journal rankes top Real Estate Brokerage Firms for 2010. Lee & Associates - LA North/Ventura, Inc. rises in the rankings to the #2 spot in Total Value of Deals and ranks #1 in Value of Sales in 2010. Our offices are located in Sherman Oaks, Calabasas and Oxnard.

Klorman Business Center Office for Lease 23047 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills

The Klorman Business Center located within the west San Fernando Valley in the city of Woodland Hills on Ventura Boulevard. This newly remodeled office building was built with quality construction and beautifully upgraded common areas. The move-in ready new office suites have abundant window line and high end office amminities. Tenants have 24/7 access to the property and state of the art security systems.

28720 Roadside Dr, Agoura Hills "Shamrock Plaza Office" The Name

Shamrock Plaza is located in the heart of Agoura Hills situated just off the 101 Ventura Freeway between Kanan Road and Las Virgenes Road exits. 

Shamrock Holdings Inc. was the firm founded by Roy E Disney, a family investment firm. The Disney family still remains the major shareholder of this firm.  Shamrock Holdings Inc. owns a variety of assets including radio, television stations and a number of real estate assets.

In 1985, Shamrock Holdings Inc., began construction of the Shamrock Plaza. Hence the name.

Agoura Hills Office Space for Rent Virtual Tour - Shamrock Plaza

28720 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills Shamrock Plaza is centrally located in the Conejo Valley and is nestled against the beautiful backdrop of the Santa Monica Mountains. This modern office building, built by the Disney Corporation features medical and office suites, ample free parking, abundant widow line, and has a variety of spaces to fit your office needs.  

San Fernando Valley & Conejo Valley Landlords vs Tenants

 

2011 still has its challenges ahead for our economy.  I don't expect things to ease up a bit, but I do think our economy is slowly getting better. Still there is a lot of uncertainty with new and exisiting businesses. This uncertainty with businesses are very appearent in the San Fernando Valley and Conejo Valley and the leasing market reveals this truth.  Long term leases are challenging for majority of new and growing businesses and negotiating lease terms has been no easy ride.

Landlords need some incentives in this market to get their vacancies leased up.  1 month rent abatement per year, 6 month teaser rates, free parking, tenant improvement allowance and an active broker willing to work are some successful elements in this market. In the San Fernando Valley and Conjeo Valley market, there are still too many vacancies to raise rents much further. Creative rent structures is another creative element is consummating a new lease. Its not unusual to see a flat lease for the next few years either. 

Tenants getting closer to lease end have been beginning to tour the market place about a year to six month in advance to see where they can strike a deal. I convey to each tenant that every landlord has a different business model. Whether their model is occupancy percentage, credit tenancy, price per square foot for rent, etc. makes its difficult for some tenants to understand that even though there is vacancy in their local market place, landlords may not necessarily budge where tenants would like. I let each tenant I represent know that the only way to find out where the landlord is will to make a deal is by requesting a lease proposal and negotiating.

Majority of the time, unless specific reasons other than rental price, most tenants will continue to renew their lease. $.10 per square foot isn't really going to make much of a justification to move unless they are a small tenant.  It's typical for tenants to tour the marketplace and to have found themselves back at thier exisiting space renewing their lease for another few more years with some incentives like free rent, new carpet and paint.

For Landlords, it can be very advantagous to consider early lease renewals for tenants. Why? The known is better than the unknown and diminishes the risk of losing a credit worthy tenant. It's easier to control costs like improvements to space, commissions, loss of income for vacancy, and overall real estate costs associated with time. 

But the only really way to know if you had a good lease is only after the lease is over.   

Lee & Associates - LA North/Ventura Commercial Real Estate San Fernando Valley Business Journal

Uncovering Opportunities and Creating Outstanding Results!

Still a challenging market ahead for 2011, but many commerical real estate investors once on the sidelines in 2009 and 2010 are beginning to re-enter the real estate market and plan to be active this year. 

 http://www.lee-associates.com/global/about-media-article.php?TeamId=6&IdCat=0&id=1609

San Fernando Valley Lee & Associates - LA North/Ventura News

Here we are on Bisnow.

http://www.bisnow.com/

Growth Forecast in our Economy

Perception is that our California economy has reached the bottom!

 Are there signs of real optimism? 2012 looks like a turning point in our economy, or is it?  

* Business spending accounted for majority of growth.

* Employment less than impressive.

* New home development has not seen a rebound yet.

* 2010 banks will have taken over 1.2 million homes. (Is a double dip rececssion in the housing market on its way? Banks are slowly moving inventory to prevent a major drop in the residential housing market. The next 3 years will be interesting)

Class A Properties are continuing their run up in prices and low cap rates as investment group are bidding up the prices trying to take advantage of this market. All other classes are still struggling and will continue to have its challenges this year.

Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast California Real Estate Survey

California Real Estate Survey

San Fernando Valley Office & Industrial 4th Quarter 2010 Market Analysis

Declines leveling off, some small improvements

Stabilization in office rents are to be expected by 3rd Quarter 2011. Rent Concession, Tenant Improvements, Free Parking and 6 month Teaser Rates are taking over reduced rents.

Q4 2010-LAN Office



Sluggish recovery means little change for industrial market

Leasing activity remains constant while absorption has improved since last quarter.  Still a soft business climate, but the most sales activity continues to come from Owner-Users taking advantage of SBA Financing and low interest rates.

Q4 2010-LA Industrial


San Fernando Valley Industrial Properties Recently Sold

San Fernando Valley Office Rental Market Picking Up Slowly

Year end 2010 left us with conservative but encouraging recovery in the office sector.  Still the fourth quarter left landlords with presistent challenges ahead.  With multiple spaces for quality tenants to choose from, low market rents coupled with high improvement cost have pushed majority of the smaller landlords without deep pockets out of this leasing market. Not to mention the need for many existing tenants that has excess space trying to downsize.

The pace of lease transactions have picked up toward the end of the year as confidence in our economy is slowly recovering.   Over the course of this year, we should see a stabilization of rents as we have seen a decline for 12 straight quarters.  New employment and business growth is certainly the leading factors to stabilization of rents and absorption of excess space.

San Fernando Valley Enterprise Zone Expansion

The City of Los Angeles has expanded the Enterprise Zone to now include Chatsworth, Canoga Park, Van Nuys Airport Area, Woodland Hills and the Northeast Valley.  Some of the incentives below:

• Employment tax credits of $37,400 per employee hired, spread over five years;


• 35 percent utility rate reductions over five years from the Department of Water and Power;


• Sales and use tax income credits for purchases of machinery and equipment;


• Lender interest deduction for loans made to Enterprise Zone businesses; and


• Priority bid preferences for Enterprise Zone businesses bidding on state procurement contracts.

The Enterprise Zone sounds interesting, but will it be effective in stimulating the growth and development of new and existing business in the San Fernando Valley? 

From the surface the benefits seem apparent in the manufacturing and distribution sector. And this benefit isn't just for a tenant, but as a landlord you reap the benefits of less stringent city ordinances and flexibility to allow for a few more types of uses. And in conjunction to the other city monies floating around for real estate owners, if you can find it "CRA", you might just be in luck.

So this enterprise zone solution is going to stimulate the economy, right? You have a great business plan. As a new business in the enterprise zone, you get 100% tax credits for the purchase of new equipment and machinery to get your business going.  You can hire someone that qualifies under any one of the 13 different categories (saves you up to $13,440 over a 5-year span), like the recently laid-off and don't forget those living in the work opportunity tax credit area which saves you and additional $2,400 per year. You have reduced parking requirements, city fee waivers, and DWP rate discounts that all put money back in you pockets, right.  It does seem promising.

So the question is, where can a new business get a LOAN? Um! Are we still at the mercy of the banks and politicians that help nurture the lending incentives? Until the key to lending is turned on, it's going to be a slow process to get things jump started. 

SEZ Zone Expansion Info Package

San Fernando Valley Office & Industrial 3rd Quarter 2010 Market Analysis

Leasing Velocity Remains Steady, But Absorption Weakens

Q3 2010-LAN Office 10-10

Leasing Volume and Sales Prices Rise, Improving Absorption Rates

Q3 2010-LA Industrial 10-10