Office Move Plans

What! Office Move plans have expanded! I was so surprised when I hear this that I remember all the details.

It was May 20th (my birth date so that helped the memory) I was walking with a Real Estate Maven on 42nd street, near Grand Central, in NYC. It was a nice sunny day, I was hurrying to get back to the office to finish up for a B D celebration. But, this statement stopped me in my tracks.

His comment was casual chatter, as we strode back to the parking garage. To him it was an “aside”, to me it was larcenous.

He said “You know they’ve been calculating office space by measuring into the sidewalk. Keeps the per square foot cost down.”

“What ? Are you kidding?” I screamed. “No, I’m not kidding” he said.
Sarcastically, I mused “I’ll bet it keeps the cost per square foot down!”.

Lots of questions immerge. How do you determine your actual square feet?. Your usable square feet plus the common area square feet? .What “truths” do the landlord and the tenant have in common, what do they use as an accurate document?

When an outrageous concept like this happens for us purests, it changes “the reality”. An in creased cost for the tenant occurs. He has to hire someone to field measure the space (which he should do anyway), He needs an accurate document with usable square feet. In this case, common area costs just rose expoentially, for each department! But,the per sq.ft. cost is lower, claims the RE Maven, it all works out in the end he claims. Or does it?

“As built” drawings are used to identify the number of square feet in a lease agreement. It is a legal document!

Never a dull moment in the business of facilities management and office relocation.