Office Building Classifications revisited

By Catherine Erney
Xceligent

The Office building classifications that we have been using were established by a committee of commercial agents in about 2003 -- back in the days of C-Rex. By this time, the yardsticks we were using had become severely out-dated. For example, one of the requirements for a Class A building was that it should have been constructed within the past 10 years. Strictly adhering to that guideline would have decimated the buildings designated "Class A" in both the downtown and suburban tracked sets. (Tracked set properties are competitive, multi-tenant properties used for vacancy and absorption statistics.) In addition, both suburban and downtown office buildings were held to the exact same standard, which is about as silly as using a set of New York City building classifications to qualify Columbus properties.

This situation was one of the many topics at the COCIE Board meeting in April. All agreed that the definitions were long overdue for an update, and also that the standards should be determined by working agents who were active in the field. In addition, we decided that an odd number of members was necessary for the crucial "tie breaker" votes and finally, that each of our Top Five firms should be represented on the committee. This was specifically planned to sidestep the "My listing is Class A; Your building is Class B" pitfall. As it turned out, no tie breaker votes were necessary -- the committee came to consensus on every property in the tracked set.

Recruiting a committee turned out to be easier than I anticipated. (Commercial agents will do anything for a home cooked breakfast!) Our committee included Randy Stephens, SIOR and Senior Vice President representing Colliers Turley Martin Tucker; Chris Potts, Principal and First Vice President with Grubb & Ellis Adena; Wayne Harer, Executive Vice President at Continental Realty Cushman and Wakefield Alliance; Mike Simpson from NAI Ohio Equities; and Todd Greiner, SIOR, First Vice President with CB Richard Ellis.

After a grueling morning of high energy discussion -- fueled by good food and sweetened by pecan rolls and good coffee, the committee came to unanimous decision on Office Building classifications.

These are the 2008 Class A & Class B building standards:

Class A Downtown Office (21 records in the tracked set)
GBA > 50,000 SF
Fully ADA compliant
Built or extensive mechanical renovation since 1990
In a premium location
Commands premium rent for the area
3 + floors; multi-tenant
Fully sprinklered
Newer mechanicals

Class B Downtown office (55 records in the tracked set)
GBA > 25,000 SF
Handicapped accessible, or partially
ADA compliant
May have had a recent cosmetic renovation
Second tier location or an older building
Moderate rent for the location
May be single story
Multi-tenant
May not be fully sprinklered

Class A Suburban office (61 records in the tracked set)
GBA > 55,000 SF
Fully ADA compliant
Built or mechanically renovated since 1990
Premium location
Commands premium rent for the area
Multi-story, multi tenant
Fully sprinklered
Has high end common area finishes

Class B Suburban (202 records in the tracked set)
GBA > 20,000 SF
Handicapped accessible, or partially
ADA compliant
Second tier location, or an older building
May have had a cosmetic renovation
Commands moderate rent for the area
May be single story
Multi-tenant

Existing tracked set buildings in the CDX have already been re-classified according to current standards. We offer our thanks to the COCIE Boards as well as the volunteer committee members who contributed their valuable time. Local input by the hard working COCIE Board and agents like Randy Stephens, Chris Potts, Mike Simpson, Wayne Harer and Todd Greiner gives our data a competitive and distinct Columbus edge.

COCIE Membership

Columbus                                       Nationwide                New Companies since last publication:
Buildings tracked - 13,584                 74,469                        Street Sotheby's Cooperative Business Services,
SF tracking - 499,628,175                 5,309,276,342             Vannatta Brothers, Margaret "Peg" Greer Appraiser,
Properties for lease - 4,815                70,956                        Jerome J. Heckman, E.V. Bischoff, Buckeye Power
Properties for sale - 2,140++              24,520                   
# of users - 638                                24,520

++ Includes 275 Multi Unit Housing listings, 705 Land Listings & 141 Business Opportunities.

Survey Says -- They like us, they really really like us!

At the request of the COCIE Board, we recently distributed an electronic customer satisfaction survey to our 632 members. Entry into a drawing for $50 Cameron Mitchell gift card was dangled as a reward. This may account for the better than average response rate, but we nonetheless appreciate our clients taking time to give us feedback.

Of the clients responding to the survey:

82% believe that COCIE data is complete

94% believe that COCIE data is current

99% find the local COCIE staff to be supportive and professional (Angie & l will immediately go to work on that other 1%)

76% feel that COCIE fees are a good value

71% find the COCIE web site easy to use

82% use COCIE more often than they use CoStar

Our favorite comments:

"more accurate" "stronger retail content"

"more Central Ohio oriented"

"CoStar data is 99% wrong and not verified"

Finally, we find the answer to "where do you share your listing data" enormously significant:

100% of COCIE agents post their listing information on our site.

56% also put their listing information on LoopNet.

45% also put their listing information on CoStar

32% also put their listing information on www.officespace.com.

18% also put their listing information on Realtor.com.

6% also put their listing information on CCIM.

3% also put their listing information on the CBR MLS.

In other words, COCIE is clearly the site for the most complete commercial real estate listing information in the Columbus metro market. If you're searching anywhere else for commercial property listings -- you're missing half of the available properties in the market.