BOMA 2010: The New Retail Standard

Every year, the Law Society of Upper Canada hosts the “Six Minute Commercial Leasing Lawyer” conference.  This annual conference brings together some of the best and brightest practitioners in the field of commercial leasing to discuss the most topical substantive and procedural issues of the year.  The lawyers at Daoust Vukovich LLP are frequently invited to speak at the conference on various areas of interest.

This year, Dennis Daoust will be presenting at the conference and will be discussing the new 2010 BOMA office and retail measurement standards.

On August 27, 2010, our blog presented a discussion of the new 2010 BOMA office measurement standard.  The discussion was based on an article drafted by Dennis Daoust, one of the founding partners of Daoust Vukovich LLP, entitled “BOMA 2010: A New Approach to Office Measurement Standards”.

In preparation for the conference, Dennis Daoust has expanded on his previous analysis in his new article entitled “BOMA 2010 Office Standard and New BOMA 2010 Retail Standard”.  This recent article provides a recap of the 2010 BOMA office measurement standard.  However, it also extends the analysis to include the new 2010 BOMA retail measurement standard.  BOMA did not attempt to produce a standard method of measuring retail space in retail buildings until 2010.

The new retail standard introduced by BOMA varies only slightly from the typical standards drafted by retail landlords.  However, important differences exist that require the attention of the prudent drafter.  For example, certain floor openings are excluded from Gross Leaseable Area (“GLA”) in the BOMA retail standard, while, typically, no such deduction is made in landlord definitions of GLA.  Also, storage areas are included in GLA in the BOMA retail standard, although they are often excluded in landlord definitions of GLA.

Although the BOMA standard eliminates some existing uncertainty through the use of precise definitions and illustrations, there are some areas of confusion.  Additional work will need to be done to clarify intent before the 2010 BOMA retail standard can be regarded as an improvement to standards currently employed by retail landlords.

Also, attention should be paid to the necessity of applying weighting factors for different categories of space, such as basement areas, storage areas, mezzanines, kiosks, food court premises, office areas and second floor space with no access to a mall.  They will need to be developed and applied by landlords in much the same way as they are now applied to landlord drafted definitions of GLA.

For further information on the new 2010 BOMA retail standard and useful drafting tips, please download the full article written by Dennis Daoust in the link below.