Office classes A, B and C: what the letters measure

A class rates the quality of an office building against the market it competes in. BOMA International, the association that publishes the most cited system for this, defines the classes in the terms BOMA Philadelphia reproduces: the classes represent a subjective quality rating of buildings and indicate the competitive ability of each building to attract similar types of tenants. The rating combines rents relative to the area, building finishes, the standard and efficiency of building systems, amenities, location and accessibility, and market perception.

That comparison is always against a specific market. BOMA publishes two alternative bases: the metropolitan one, meant for comparisons inside a single office market, and the international one, meant for investors looking at several markets. The same letter can shift from one base to the other.

The system itself states why it exists: to standardize the conversation about office markets and their buildings. It also carries a warning worth reading before you trust a listing headline: BOMA International does not recommend publishing a classification rating for individual properties. The class in a listing is somebody’s judgment about that building; ask who assigned it and what supports it.

The rules that do apply to workplace premises in Argentina are hygiene and safety rules (Annex I to Decree 351/79, the regulation of Law 19.587) and create no quality categories: the letters A, B and C do not come from them. The sanitary services and ventilation that regulation requires are covered in how many square meters your office needs.

Placed side by side, the published definitions do not measure the same thing. These four are not Argentine: they are published by international associations and consultancies, and they show where definitions part ways.

The scales do not match. BOMA stays with three letters. Colliers describes renovations that push a building to compete as a "trophy (or Class A+)", so there is a layer above A. CBRE Econometric Advisors calls the top tier "Prime, or Class A+" and defines prime properties as the top slice of a market, the top 2 to 4% of office buildings, categorized together with the firm’s professionals, and it also works with a Class A- tier for buildings just below A. When someone tells you a building is "class A", they are not telling you which scale they used.

The criteria differ too. BOMA includes rent level and market perception. Colliers adds the tenant roster and the ownership and management behind the building. One Los Angeles example published by Colliers historically used age, floors (thirty or more), underground parking, onsite property management, 24 hour security and amenities. In that same piece, Colliers warns that age, location and LEED certification are no longer accurate markers of class, because a deep renovation changes what a building offers.

On top of that sits the universe each report chooses. JLL’s 2025 national office report studies more than 600 buildings across 12 markets in 7 provinces. CBRE’s quarterly figures for Buenos Aires measure the city’s inventory, availability and net absorption. A "class A" data point only compares within the universe and definition that publish it. The pages of these Argentine reports publish the universe they study, but no criteria for defining a class.

The practical consequence is simple: before you compare two listings by the letter, find out which definition wrote it. Two classifications can disagree about the same building, and Colliers documents the edge cases: a building from the sixties, renovated to high-end pricing and finishes, lands where?

Beyond their differences, the definitions keep coming back to the same objects. These you can check during a viewing, and they are what a lease later turns into contract terms.

• Location and accessibility: how distinguished the address is within that market, and how people arrive by transit and by car.
• Condition relative to age: not age on its own. Colliers names it that way: what matters is the condition relative to age, because an old, well maintained building can compete at the top.
• Building systems: efficient and controllable HVAC, elevators sized for the people in the building, security, fire detection and suppression.
• Finishes: quality of materials and detailing in lobbies, corridors and offices.
• Floor plate functionality: column spacing, depth from window to core and ceiling height, the three facts that decide how many people fit and how they move.
• Building amenities: reception, parking, gym, cafeteria, guards and onsite maintenance.
• Market perception and tenant roster: the weight the market gives the building and who occupies it, present in both the BOMA and the Colliers definitions.

A certification is a different axis

LEED certification answers a different question than class. USGBC describes LEED as a green building rating system: a project completes prerequisites, earns credits and goes through a verification and review process by GBCI, then receives a level with assigned points: Certified (40 to 49), Silver (50 to 59), Gold (60 to 79) and Platinum (80 or more). There are LEED systems for a whole building, for interior fit-out work that does not touch the envelope (Interior Design and Construction), and for the operation of an existing building.

A listing that says "LEED Gold" is reporting a certification with a scope and a score, not a class. And a certification alone does not order the market: Colliers listed LEED among the markers that no longer define a building’s class.

The letters used here are market comparisons, not a certification under Decree 351/79. A listing’s letter may be an advertiser’s declaration or an estimate by whoever classified it: ask who assigned it, which scale they used and what documentation supports it. A classification alone does not prove the premises meet safety rules or are authorized for your activity.

That is why two similar buildings can show up with different letters, and why the same letter can hide very different buildings. A class compresses variables you can verify one by one; when it compresses too much, it stops helping you compare.

1. Who assigned it?

   Ask whether the owner stated the class, whether it comes from a consultancy report and which one, or whether the agency estimated it.

2. What is it based on?

   Year built and last renovation, systems, finishes, amenities and general condition: the same objects that carry weight in the published definitions.

3. Which scale?

   Plain A, B and C, or a scale with A+ on top and A- at the bottom. The letter A does not mean the same thing in the two.

4. Which hard facts back it up?

   Area, floor plate, ceiling height, columns, number and speed of elevators, connectivity, security and parking can be checked during the viewing. The class cannot.

These questions are the short part of a viewing that has more to it: how to walk the floor and what to check before signing is covered in how to choose an office.

PlataStar stores the class together with where the fact came from, and never mixes the two. If the listing states it ("Clase A", "categoría A+", "AAA", "A+"), PlataStar repeats it and the cell shows only the class: AAA and A+ count as A+, and a "categoría B+" counts as B. Wording such as "premium", "trophy" or "edificio prime" counts as a stated class A.

If the listing does not state it, PlataStar may estimate the class, and then the cell carries the marker "inferred" ("estimada" in Spanish) with a tooltip that reads: "Class inferred by PlataStar from the year, amenities and area the listing states. The listing does not state it."

The estimate uses only facts the listing itself reports: year built, building amenities, floor and submarket. An amenity the listing does not mention counts as unknown, not as missing.

Class appears only when the score and reported facts jointly meet the classifier thresholds. A+ additionally requires LEED or a building from 2005 or later in Puerto Madero or Retiro. Floor and location can add points but cannot replace building evidence. Do not read the estimate as a technical audit or a consultancy certificate.

An estimated class C is the opposite case: a building from before 1980 with at least one more stated fact, with none of these six facts: LEED certification, raised floor, generator, 24 hour security, reception or central air conditioning (an elevator, fiber, gym or cafeteria does not block it), and with a score of zero or less.

When the evidence falls below those minimums there is no class at all: the cell stays empty.

• Age and renovation: year built and what was redone, with dates.
• Floor plate: useful and total area, column spacing, depth from window to core and ceiling height.
• Systems: HVAC, elevators, backup power, connectivity and security.
• Amenities: reception, maintenance, cleaning, parking, and what you pay for separately.
• Certifications: which one, what scope (whole building or interiors) and at what level.
• Price and lease: asking price per m², how it is adjusted, and what the service charge covers.

For the full cost of occupying a floor, service charges included, see the real costs of renting an office. To choose where to look based on your team and clients, see where to rent an office in Buenos Aires.