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Commercial Real Estate Glossary

General Retail

AKA Retail: Secondary Types:

Auto Dealership: New car dealership facilities (occasionally used car) with a substantial amount of building improvements that include some or all of the following: showroom, offices, parts department, repair/service facilities, and body shop.

Auto Repair: Commercially zoned single and or muti-tenant buildings featuring service/ work bays for wide ranges of auto repair and auto care services.

Bank: A building used as a bank building with a vault. Generally it has a drive-up and/or walk-up teller service or machines. Typically it may be a single-story building, but it may have mezzanine space or be multi-story.

Bar: This property use includes all types of drinking/entertainment uses such as bars, cocktail lounges, taverns, and nightclub/dancing establishments. Bars may have limited kitchen facilities and food menu.

Bowling Alley: An indoor facility for bowling, which may include a restaurant, nightclub,
tavern, etc.

Car Wash: Traditional full-service car wash facility that requires customer to get out of their car for attendants to vacuum, wash and dry the car. Usually includes variety of auto detailing services and may also have gas pumps, and oil change/quick service facilities.

Convenience Store: Free-Standing or Stand-Alone buildings typically 1,500 to 3,000 sf. Example: 7-11, Quick Trip, Circle K. May also have a couple of gas pumps, however, the primary business/use is the store itself. This use also includes small market/grocery type stores (typically 3,000 to 7,500 sf) that are not large enough to be classified as supermarkets.

Drive-In Movie: Large open areas that provide parking for vehicles in order to view large outdoor screens with sound boxes for each vehicle. Complex usually includes a snack bar area with restrooms.

Day Care Center: AKA Pre School/Day Care Facility - Single or multi-tenant building that offers child day care and/or pre-school services. Usually includes a playground area, may be divided into classrooms and have kitchen facilities.

Drug Store: Drug store buildings are usually located within a shopping center or along older commercial strips. They typically range in size from 12,000 to 20,000 sf.

Fast Food: A restaurant building that provides drive-thru and/or walk-up window service and may also have sit-down dining. Example: McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, Boston Market, etc.
Funeral Home: A facility that contains wake reception rooms as well as embalming facilities for preparing corpses for burial, crematoria, facilities for sales of caskets and urns, and offices.

Garden Center: Provides retail/wholesale nursery items such as plants, shrubs, trees, landscape material and gardening supplies. Improvements usually consist of wood frame enclosed buildings, open sided covered (patio type) buildings, greenhouses and may include areas for growing inventory.

General Free Standing: AKA Stand Alone, typically, a single-tenant general purpose commercial-retail building that is free standing with open parking. Many retail buildings fall into this category, especially when they don't meet any of the more detailed descriptions. Fast food restaurants are a good example of freestanding retail, as are larger "big-box" structures such as Best Buy and Circuit City, as long as they are not part of a shopping center.

Health Club: A facility built and designed as a gym, health club, or tennis club. Amenities
vary and may include: weight rooms, aerobics floor, sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, pool,
basketball court and tennis court.

Movie Theatre: Indoor facility that may be a single or multi-screen complex.

Parking Garage: A parking structure with multiple levels above or below ground. Usually pay parking, may even have some retail space on street front.

Parking Lot: An open surface parking lot utilized solely for pay parking.

Restaurant: A building that provides sit-down dining only. May vary in size and range from small local establishments to larger national restaurant chains. May include bar and/or nightclub or other associated uses.

Service Station: This property type includes both full-service and self-service gas stations that have a small cashier "kiosk" building. Self-service gas stations may have a mini-mart, or a fast-food restaurant tenant, and may also include a drive-thru car wash.

Storefront: A multi-story, multi-tenant building (in some cases it may be single-tenant or owner/user building) with a mix of retail, office or residential uses, usually retail on ground floor with offices or apartments above. Located along a commercial strip where building usually abuts adjacent buildings. This building fronts right on the street and has no parking or limited parking in the rear. These types of structures are generally located in downtown or older commercial areas.

Storefront Retail/Office: A multi-story, multi-tenant building with a mix of retail and office uses, usually retail on ground floor and offices above. Located along a commercial strip where building usually abuts adjacent buildings, it fronts right on the street and has no parking or limited parking in the rear. These types of structures are generally located in downtown or older commercial areas.

Storefront Retail/Residential: A multi-story, multi-tenant building with a mix of retail and residential uses, usually retail on ground floor, or in front, and residential above or in the rear. This building fronts right on the street and has no parking or limited parking in the rear. These types of structures are generally located in downtown or older commercial areas.

Supermarket: Commonly referred to as supermarket, market, or grocery store. These buildings are often freestanding or stand-alone in design, and anchor neighborhood/community centers. Tenants range from smaller local, independent grocers to the regionally/nationally owned supermarket chains. Buildings usually have some truck loading capability in the rear (grade level, truck well, dock hi, etc).

Truck Stop: This property is a service station for large trucks (tractor/trailers). Fuel pumps, islands, canopies are designed to handle these vehicles. May include restaurant, mini-mart, truck wash area, service bays, and restrooms with showers, motel, and/or rest stop area.

Veterinarian Hospital/Kennel: Typically, an industrial zoned property used to board and care for animals. Can also be used for the breeding of animals, usually dogs or cats.

Geocodes

Latitude and longitude coordinates that describes in either degrees or time the location of a property. Coordinates can be obtained from software that reference geocode data or graphic information.

Geographical Scope

Represents the boundaries in which a tenant conducts business: International, National, Regional or Local.

Gift Deed

Typically used to transfer property to immediate family members and no funds are exchanged. Consideration is typically love and affection. This is a bonafide gift and the grantor received nothing in return.

Golf Course

The property may be adjacent or near to a golf course. In some cases tenants in a building may have rights to play at a particular golf course. For a Proposed Building it may indicate that a golf course has been incorporated into the building park design.

Government

The body with the power to make and/or enforce laws for a country, land area, people, or organization. This could be on a local, county, state, or Federal level.

Graduate Rental Lease

Also known as a stepped or step-up lease. A lease in which the annual rent is increased to certain pre-set levels.

Green Roof

A roofing system that utilizes vegetation to absorb rain water and reduce heat reflection.

Greyfields

A dying shopping center, specifically (according to Price-Waterhouse-Coopers) a center in which annual sales are less than $150 per square foot of retail space

Gross Absorption

For existing buildings, the measure of total square feet occupied (indicated as a Move-In) over a given period of time with no consideration for space vacated during the same time period. Sublet space and lease renewals are not factored into gross absorption. However, in a lease renewal that includes the leasing of additional space, that additional space is counted in gross absorption. Preleasing of space in non-existing buildings (Planned, Under Construction or Under Renovation) is not counted in gross absorption until actual move in, which by definition may not be any earlier than the delivery date.

Gross Building Area

All space in a building, AKA the Whole Building.

Gross Income Multiplier

AKA GIM - The ratio of sale price to gross scheduled income plus other income at time of sale, or projected GSI for the first year of ownership. Calculated by dividing the sale price by the gross scheduled income plus other income.

Gross Leasable Area

(AKA GLA) Expressed in square feet. It is the total floor area designed for the occupancy and exclusive use of tenants, including basements and mezzanines. It is the standard measure for determining the size of retail spaces, specifically shopping centers, where rent is calculated based on GLA occupied. There is no real difference between RBA (Rentable Building Area) and GLA except that GLA is used when referring to retail properties while RBA is used for other commercial properties.

Gross Rent Multiplier

AKA GRM - The ratio of sale price to gross scheduled income only, at time of sale, or projected GSI for the first year of ownership. Calculated by dividing the sale price by the gross scheduled income. If you have Other Income in addition to Gross Scheduled Income, see Gross Income Multiplier.

Gross Scheduled Income

(GSI) The total annualized scheduled rents for an investment property at time of sale or projected for the first year of ownership, assuming full occupancy.

Ground Lease

A lease agreement where the land owner (lessor) agrees to lease their land for a set period of time. Depending on the contents of the agreement, the lessor can stipulate what the lessee can and can not do with the property. The lease term is typically 20 years or more, with many being 99 years in length. The lessee pays the lessor a monthly, quarterly or annual rent payment. The lessee often constructs a building on the site and operates it or leases it as if they owned the ground in fee. At the expiration of the lease agreement, the lessor gains control of whatever is constructed on the land, unless the lease is renewed.

For Sale Conditions, see "Leasehold" or "Leased Fee"

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