Guidance for Benchmarking Mixed-Use Properties in Portfolio Manager

All types of commercial buildings are able to use Portfolio Manager to benchmark energy, water, environmental, and financial performance in Portfolio Manager. Many buildings are devoted to a single function, available for selection within Portfolio Manager (e.g. a school or a supermarket). However, some buildings may have a mix of uses.

A mixed-use property consists of multiple distinct commercial functions within a single building envelope. Mixed-use properties most commonly include a combination of office, retail, hotel, residential, or recreation space. Other space types may be represented as well. This guidance does not apply to hospitals or wastewater treatment plants.

Follow these steps to enter the building in Portfolio Manager:

  1. Enter the main space. Begin by entering the space that constitutes the majority of the building activity (e.g., an office tower or a hotel that is situated over ground-floor retail). All supporting spaces for the building should be included under the square footage of this main activity.
    1. This includes any services/amenities that directly support the main activity of the building, and could reasonably be assumed to appear in similar properties across the country. In an office building, this might include a coffee stand/shop, a flower shop, a news stand, a barber shop, etc. In a hotel, this would include the gift shop, gym/spa, and restaurant(s).
    2. This includes the entranceway, hallways, atrium, and any other common space.
    3. This includes elevator shafts, stairwells, restrooms, mechanical rooms and any building areas related to maintenance and administration.
  2. Enter space for other activities. If there are spaces within the building envelope whose functions are inherently different from the main building activity, they should be entered as separate space types. Do not break your property into more spaces than necessary to accurately describe the operations of the building.
    1. If a food service area supports the primary building use (e.g. a cafeteria serving workers in an Office, or a restaurant within a Hotel), then the square footage should be included within the primary building category (e.g. Office or Hotel) under Step 1. If a food service area is a food court or restaurant that is open to the general public, it should be entered as Other.
    2. Space should be entered as Retail if it consists of one or more eligible Retail establishments. Eligible Retail establishments must each be at least 5,000 square feet in size, and have an exterior entrance to the public.
      1. A collection of small retail establishments, each of which is less than 5,000 square feet in size, may not be added together to form one single retail space that exceeds the 5,000 square foot threshold.
      2. A bookstore on the first floor of an office building that is over 5,000 square foot in size and has an exterior entrance to the public should be classified as Retail. The rest of the building should be classified as Office and the entire building should earn a single benchmark.
    3. Any retail space that is a not eligible for benchmarking and does not support the overall building function should be benchmarked as Other.
      1. Space to benchmark as other: A four story mall, including a promenade, multiple escalators and a food court, which is located at the base of an urban office building; an automobile dealership; a public restaurant
      2. Space to include under Step 1 with the main space: small convenience store or kiosk in the atrium of an office building; a spa or gift store at a hotel.
    4. Any data center space that was specifically designed and equipped to meet the needs of high density computing equipment such as server racks, used for data storage and processing, should be entered as Data Center. When a data center is located within a building, it will usually have its own power (typically a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and a Power Distribution Unit (PDU)) and cooling systems.
      1. Server closets and computer training area may not be entered as Data Center. These spaces should be included in the gross floor area of the space type around them (i.e. Office).
    5. Residential space, such as apartments and condominiums, should be entered as Multifamily Housing.
  3. Verify gross floor area. The floor area for all individual spaces should add up to the gross floor area for the entire building. The energy meters should account for the total energy consumption from all spaces within the building envelope.

While any building may follow these steps to benchmark energy, water, and greenhouse gas emissions, certain requirements must be met in order for Portfolio Manager to compute a 1-to-100 performance rating. To be eligible to receive an energy performance rating, mixed-use properties must meet all Portfolio Manager eligibility requirements. A few key requirements that that are relevant to mixed-use properties include the following:

  • The property must be a single structure, not a campus of buildings.
  • More than 50% of the building's gross floor area (excluding parking lots and garages) must be defined by one space type eligible to receive an energy performance rating, such as Office or Hotel.
  • If more than 50% of a mixed-use property is Retail, the property is not eligible for a rating.
    • Retail properties are eligible to earn the ENERGY STAR at the store level only. This includes free standing stores, stores located in a strip or open-air shopping centers, and enclosed mall anchor stores.
    • Entire mall buildings (enclosed or open) are not eligible to receive an energy performance rating or label.
    • Individual stores located within larger mixed-use buildings such as hotels or offices cannot earn the label. The entire mixed-use building must apply, using the steps below.
  • The combined floor area of any space classified as Other cannot exceed 10% of the total gross floor area of the building (where gross floor area of the building excludes the parking floor area).
  • The combined floor area of all Multifamily Housing spaces cannot exceed 10% of the total gross floor area of the building (where the gross floor area of the building excludes the parking floor area).