Commercial common areas include lobbies, parking lots, sidewalks, landscaping areas, utilities, maintenance, and more. Having them is often beneficial to your business.
Here are the top three benefits of paying for a commercial common area.
Saving money
For tenants: Common Area Maintenance Expenses (CAM Expenses) are divided amongst tenants and calculated by square feet. If you only take up a little of the building, you still receive the benefits.
For landlords: CAM Expenses can help manage your general overhead expenses for utilities and other costs of keeping up the building or buildings.
A polished and professional appearance
For tenants: Sharing your property with other users means you can get parking lots, sidewalks, landscaping, maintenance, and more at a fraction of the price. In an office building, a sleek and polished lobby is comfortable and impressive to your customers, and in a commercial or industrial building, plenty of parking and sidewalk space is essential.
For landlords: The better your building looks, the more people will want to patronize the businesses inside, and you’ll have more tenants wanting to rent from you.
An easy calculation
Real estate can get complicated, but CAM expenses are one of the easiest things to figure out. Divide the tenant’s square footage by the gross leasable area of the building, and multiply that number by the estimated total expense for the common area.
For tenants: Using this calculation can help you avoid any surprise expenses. These expenses are typically reconciled at the end of the year, but if you pay the estimated amount throughout the year, you may even see a refund!
For landlords: This simple calculation helps you be transparent with your tenants as you set up their lease. You can use it to articulate the cost of the benefits they receive as your tenant.