Amazon Seattle HQ: dedicated server room HVAC misclassification case study
A public-record office lease case study showing $28,500 in common area misclassification: dedicated server room HVAC pooled into shared CAM instead of billed directly.
What happened
Amazon's 2021 CAM reconciliation included $28,500 for HVAC equipment serving only Amazon's dedicated server room. This is a non-common-area expense: it does not benefit other tenants and must be billed directly to Amazon, not pooled. Rule 12 flags the full $28,500 as a hard finding.
Findings from the pipeline
Rule 12: Common Area Misclassification
medium confidence
$28,500
Non-common-area item 'Dedicated Server Room HVAC' ($28,500.00) included in shared CAM pool. This expense exclusively serves Amazon's tenancy and should be billed directly.
Math proof
item_confidence=0.90, factor=0.90, score=0.81
Statement references
- Dedicated Server Room HVAC
Lease evidence
- Common area expenses are shared pro-rata; tenant-specific costs must be billed directly.
- No tenant maintenance obligations that would alter this classification.
Why this matters
Technology tenants with server rooms are uniquely exposed to this type of misclassification because their infrastructure costs are large and clearly tenant-specific. When these costs are pooled into CAM, every other tenant effectively subsidizes one tenant's infrastructure.
Dispute letter draft excerpt
Request for Cooperative Review of Certain Line Items. The automated review flagged $28,500 in dedicated server room HVAC included in the shared CAM pool: this expense exclusively serves the Amazon tenancy.
Related Resources
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Public-record note
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