Above, 2 Oliver St., Boston, is shown in 1997 (left) and 2008 (right). With no new construction, the building increased in size from 212,300 square feet to 270,000 square feet, according to some listings.
Boston’s skyscrapers are growing. Or are they?
A survey of the city’s largest office buildings has found that more than two dozen have ballooned over the past decade. But none of the towers have added space. So how are they increasing square footage? Steroids? Viagra?
“There are lots of different ways to make money in real estate and this is one of them,” said David L. Richardson III, an executive vice president at McCall & Almy, a Boston-based firm that exclusively represents tenants. “We joke in the business that landlords carry rubber rulers.”
Of the 39 buildings in excess of 200,000 square feet in Boston, 27 swelled, according to a Banker & Tradesman analysis of 1997 vs. 2007 data in Office Buildings Magazine, published by New York-based Yale Robbins Publications.
One of the biggest growth spurts occurred at 2 Oliver St. The building’s square footage increased 27 percent from 212,000 square feet in 1997 to 270,000 last year. One Financial Center swelled 18.6 percent, from 1.1 million square feet to 1.3 million square feet, and 116 Huntington Ave. increased to 268,672 square feet, up from 238,000 square feet, a 12.9 percent jump.
William Collins, the agent for 2 Oliver St. at Jones Lang LaSalle, disputed the numbers in both editions of the magazine. He said the brochure for the 11-story building lists the property at 221,000 square feet. Apparently, no one can agree on its size; Registry of Deeds data say the property, which fronts on Boston’s Post Office Square Park in the Financial District, has 257,823 square feet.
William Anderson of Cushman & Wakefield, the rental agent for One Financial Center, did not return calls seeking comment by press time.
Peter Farnum of DTZ FHO Partners, the agent for 116 Huntington Ave., said he cannot explain any increase and referred calls to the landlord, Broadway Partners in New York. Steven Solomon, a company spokesman, said the firm acquired the property last year and has not changed the square footage. He did not know the building’s size.
‘Trust but Verify’
Many brokers refused to comment on Boston’s growth-without-construction trend. One broker who did not want to be identified said, “I’m not going anywhere near this.” Another left a voice mail saying, “There’s no upside for me with my landlords talking to you about this.”
Mitchell Jacoby, vice president at CresaPartners, a Boston-based firm that represents tenants, said he’s not surprised that brokers are silent.
“They don’t want to talk because they represent the guys whose buildings are growing,” Jacoby noted. “If information gets out that landlords are growing their buildings and charging more, tenants will get their space measured.”
Paul Stevens, a tenant consultant, said he has noticed over the years how buildings have grown, adding that he has seen anecdotal evidence indicating the size of buildings has been changing.
“I’ll see leases in the same building with big differences,” he said. “One lease will say that the building is 200,000 square feet and the next time I see a lease for a different tenant it’s 203,000, and the next time it’s 205,000. The fact that they have grown doesn’t surprise me because I have been seeing evidence. But I am surprised to see 27 [percent] to 30 percent increases.”
There are a variety of methods to measure a building’s square footage, brokers say, including a standard used by the Building Owners and Managers Association International, which measures rentable vs. nonrentable space.
“Whatever method you use, make sure the space is measured before you sign a lease,” added Stevens. “I go with President Ronald Reagan’s theory when dealing with the Russians: Trust but verify. My job as a tenant representative is to find ways to cut operating expenses.”
Richardson, of McCall & Almy, said examples of enlarged buildings are not unusual.
“We see this all the time,” he said. “It’s one of the first discussions I have with landlords. Sometimes they will concede that we’re right but will say to the tenant, ‘If you don’t like it, go somewhere else.'”
