How should I enter a parking garage with a small retail/office space?

  • Updated

You should follow our rules for when to break out a separate property use, which state that you should only break out a separate Property Use if:

  • It accounts for more than 25% of the property's Gross Floor Area (GFA), OR
  • It is a Property Use that can get an ENERGY STAR Score. Note, retail can only get a score if it is an individual store, greater than 5,000 sq ft, and has an exterior entrance. Ground-floor retail is not eligible for an ENERGY STAR Score.

Parking Garages will only be assessed as Parking Garages if they are 100% Parking. So you will need to benchmark differently depending on the outcome above:

  • If you do not break out any separate property uses, then you have a property that is 100% Parking Garage:
    • Enter a single Property Use (Parking) and include total GFA for the property, including the non-parking spaces
    • Your "Self-Selected" Property type should be "Parking"
    • Your "Self-Reported" Property GFA should be the total GFA for the entire property
    • This property will be assessed using the entire GFA and the entire energy use. There is no comparison to the Median for Parking Garages, nor is there an ENERGY STAR Score.
  • If you do break out another property use (for example, an office), then you do not have a "Parking Garage," according to Portfolio Manager rules. You have an office*, with a very large parking garage:
    • Enter multiple Property Uses
      • Parking - The GFA should include only the three parking types: open, partially enclosed, and fully enclosed parking garages
      • Office* - The GFA should be for the Office only.
    • Your "Self-Selected" Property type should be: Parking (because it is the largest property use)
    • Your "Self-Reported" Property GFA should be: the GFA of the Office only
    • A score will not be available because the size of the parking garage is larger than the size of the office.
    • All other metrics will be based on the GFA of the office only, but they will include your parking energy (it should be relatively small). If the GFA of the large Parking garage was included it would skew your metrics.
    • Because your Parking GFA is greater than the Office GFA, this property type is still "Parking," so there is no comparison to the median.

*Or any another property type that needs to be broken out.

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