Gross leasable area refers to the total floor space in a retail property designed for tenant occupancy and exclusive use, measured from the center line of shared walls to the outside face of exterior walls. It excludes common areas such as hallways, restrooms, and mechanical rooms, focusing instead on the square footage tenants actually lease and pay rent on. GLA is the standard yardstick for comparing shopping centers of different sizes and for calculating per-square-foot rent, sales productivity, and occupancy costs. A property's total GLA also determines where it falls on the retail size spectrum, from a small neighborhood strip center to a regional mall spanning well over a million square feet. Appraisers and investors rely on GLA figures to benchmark performance against comparable properties, since sales per square foot and rent per square foot both use GLA as the denominator. Accurate GLA measurement matters for underwriting, since even small discrepancies can distort projected income and valuation.
Further reading: The Lightstone DIRECT Opportunity Whitepaper
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