BOMA International: 100 years serving the real estate industry.

In 1907, a group of building owners and managers joined together to form the industry's first association. From the birth of the skyscraper came the birth of BOMA International.

In those early days the association was known as the National Association of Building Owners and Managers (NABOM).

Hi-rise buildings were transforming the building industry, and the country's leading owners and managers quickly realized that in order to keep pace with new technology and building requirements they needed a forum to share information and ideas.

Chicago was the home of the skyscraper and it was also home to the first convention in 1908. With 75 attendees it was a modest turnout by today's standards, but it was groundbreaking on many levels. Not only was it the first meeting of such a group, but one delegate, Clarence Cooley from New York, set the tone for a century of information sharing when he shared his building's operating costs. A precedent was set, and that collective spirit of cooperation continues to this day.

It wasn't long before the national association's influence was being felt throughout the industry. In 1915 NABOM adopted the first Standard Method of Floor Measurement, and during World War I the association achieved its first significant advocacy victory by successfully lobbying against fuel allotments and tax increases.

In 1920, the first national office was established and the membership count was up to 593 with 22 local associations. That same year the Experience Exchange Report (EER) debuted. Just 20 pages long, that first EER had 90 buildings reporting from 37 cities, but it established a benchmarking tradition that has been the industry standard for 87 years. The push button elevator was among the innovations of the time and new standards were developed for passenger and material handling elevators.

The crash of the stock market in 1929 led to a period of high vacancy rates. Faced with a vacancy crisis, NABOM President Charles Palmer encouraged members to face the crisis head on by holding rental rates and maintaining property values. Industry employment was restored with the association's Wage and Price Provision, which also helped protect building owners and managers from exorbitant operating cost increases.

In the 1930s, NABOM elevated both its advocacy and communication platforms. Harry J. Gerrity was named the association's "Washington Representative" in 1931,the same year that NABOM's first major magazine, Skyscraper Management, was published. Skyscrapers were becoming common additions to cityscapes across the country. The creme-del-la-creme of skyscrapers, the Empire State Building, was unveiled in New York City in 1931. As buildings rose higher, technology kept pace with the advent of air-conditioning and fluorescent lighting.

The industry gained a major victory in the area of depreciation in 1940 when testimony from NABOM's committee on Depreciation and Obsolescence resulted in the courts to conclude that 40 years was reasonable for the economic life of a building. The EER proved its worth as both a benchmarking resource and an advocacy tool when association president Leo Sheridan used statistics from the EER to convince a Senate Subcommittee that rent control was unnecessary in 1942. Targeted lobbying efforts by NABOM kept rent control "under control" following World War II, but rising income taxes continued to decrease profits.

The 1950s saw a significant increase in government partnering, specifically with the General Services Administration (GSA), which owned six million square feet of office space by 1957. The late '50s into the '60s was an era of rapid technology development as skyscrapers reached higher and higher into the sky. Among the advances in design and construction were metal and glass facades, acoustic ceilings, movable interior walls, electronically controlled elevators, underground garages, reinforced concrete, and fluorescent tubes with lives ranging from 12,000 to 13,000 hours.

By 1962 NABOM membership had grown to 2,000 with a growing international presence in countries like Canada, Japan, Australia and England. The association changed its name to the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International in 1968 to reflect the international expansion.

BOMA held off another bout of rent control pressure in the early '70s when President Nixon tried to pass regulations that would have made rent control part of his emergency anti-inflation measures. In 1976 BOMA International moved from Chicago to Washington, D.C, and the growing energy crisis was among the first issues BOMA tackled. By working closely with the Department of Energy and other real estate trade groups, BOMA prompted congressional legislation allowing real estate organizations to develop their own energy conservation plans. Education and professional development took off in the '70s with the founding of the Building Owners and Management Institute (BOMI) and the Real Property Administrator (RPA) designation program.

The formation of the National Advisory Council (NAC) in the early '80s gave senior real estate leaders an even stronger voice within BOMA and in turn gave BOMA an even stronger voice before government leaders. The issues of the decade included energy conservation, accessibility for the disabled, tax reform and capital gains, PCB's and asbestos. The Office Building of The Year (TOBY) Awards, debuted in 1985 and quickly became the industry's highest honor in office building management.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) had a profound impact on the industry when it was passed in 1990. BOMA worked closely with the Department of Justice to save the industry hundreds of millions of dollars through the modification of certain provisions of the Act. To help its members comply with ADA regulations, BOMA partnered with the Access Board on seminars and the ADA Compliance Guidebook. The growing forced access threat by telecommunications companies in the '90s was thwarted when BOMA earned decisions from the Federal Communications Commission blocking forced access to commercial buildings and defeating Congressional legislation that aimed to mandate forced access.

As the new millennium approached, companies began scrambling to meet "Y2K" software requirements. BOMA's Meeting the Year 2000 Challenge helped ensure a smooth transition. In 2000, BOMA International and local associations played a pivotal role in the adoption of the International Codes, the only unified set of codes for the built environment, in 44 states.

The need for terrorism insurance was more crucial than ever after the terrible events of 9-11, but affording the skyrocketing rates became much more difficult for building owners. BOMA was influential in the passage of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) in 2002 and the subsequent Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act (TRIEA) in 2005. Other key BOMA victories came in the areas of leasehold depreciation and capital gains, saving the industry billions. In 2003 Congress passed legislation that lowered the capital gains rate from 20 to 15%, and in 2004 leasehold depreciation rates were reduced to a 15-year schedule from a 39-year schedule.

BOMA has been an industry leader on issues concerning energy and the environment throughout its history, going back to the energy crisis in the 1970s to energy conservation efforts during the World Wars. In 2005, BOMA achieved a key legislative triumph with the passage of the 2005 Energy Act, which granted incentives for building owners and managers to incorporate energy efficient upgrades.

BOMA joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2005 in challenging building managers to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent in conjunction with EPA's ENERGY STAR[R] program. The successful BOMA Energy Efficiency Program (BEEP) was a pivotal step in helping property professionals meet their efficiency goals. Thousands of BOMA members and other industry professionals took part in the BEEP seminars, which offer no- and low-cost strategies for saving energy, making it one of the most successful and cost effective energy savings initiatives ever offered in the industry. BOMA International was recognized for the success of the BEEP program by being named a 2007 ENERGY STAR partner of the year, the first association ever to receive such an honor.

BOMA membership has grown from a handful of property owners and managers in 1907 to more than 16,500 in 2007. One hundred years of innovation and progress through advocacy, education and research has strengthened commercial real estate and brought property professionals together to advance the industry through information exchange.

As BOMA International gets started on the next 100 years, it is that spirit of cooperation and commitment that will guarantee the next century of success.