Industry Terms and Definitions

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1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Occupancy Cost
Includes rent, real estate and personal property taxes, plus insurance, depreciation and amortization expenses.
Occupied Space
Space that is physically occupied by a tenant, subtenant or owner. Occupied space is calculated by subtracting total vacant space from total competitive inventory. If subtenant space is excluded from the calculation, then the term “direct occupied space” is recommended.
Office Building
A structure providing environments that are conducive to the performance of management and administrative activities, accounting, marketing, information processing, consulting, human resources management, financial and insurance services, educational and medical services, and other professional services. At least 75 percent of the interior space is finished to accommodate office users, but the rest of the space can include other uses such as retail, restaurant or fitness.
Office Building Types and Sizes
Low-rise: Fewer than 7 stories above ground level
Mid-rise: Between 7 and 25 stories above ground level
High-rise: More than 25 stories above ground level
Office Condo
Short for “office condominium,” this term refers to the ownership structure of an office property in which individual units housed in one structure are sold to independent owners. Typically, there are covenants that govern the activities that can be carried out in and improvements that can be made to each unit. Such covenants also stipulate the distribution of costs related to the maintenance and operations of common elements in the building such as the roof and the elevators.
Office Park or Office Campus
Contiguous acres of land, master-planned with roads, sidewalks and trails, and extensive landscaping that accommodate stand-alone office buildings with adjacent surface parking lots or parking structures.
Office Percentage
The percentage of total square feet in an industrial building that is built for use as office space. When the mezzanine office is built above a space that would otherwise be an industrial work area, this additional square footage is not counted in the total square footage of the building.
Omnichannel Retail
The merging of online and brick-and-mortar retail operations so customers can purchase and return items via more than one “channel.” For example, they can buy online and return in store (BORIS), buy online and pick up in store (BOPIS), buy online and pick up at a locker, etc. (Synonym: Multichannel Retail)
Online or Pure Play Retailer
A retailer that sells exclusively online and does not have any brick-and-mortar retail locations.
Opportunistic Investment
Ground-up development of a real estate project is considered an opportunistic investment. It is an investment in a parcel or site that typically involves some or all of the following: rezoning for use or density or both; net new or ground-up construction; conversion of a building from one use to another; complete gut or significant rehab of a building, requiring that it be entirely vacant to complete; introduction of uses not previously seen on this parcel or in this area; etc.
Owner Occupied Building
Buildings that are occupied by the owner and that generally are not included in the competitive inventory.