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Tougher rules may snuff out smoking

By Jon Springer

Malls and mall tenants that allow people to light up will eventually confront significantly tougher air quality standards that could virtually stamp out indoor smoking, an industry expert warns.

Owners of buildings in which people are allowed to smoke could be required to triple their current ventilation rates, said Larry Schoen, president of Schoen Engineering, a Columbia, Md.-based consulting firm, and a member of both ICSC and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Revisions to ASHRAE's Standard 62-1989, which governs indoor air quality, are still in the discussion stage, he notes.

ASHRAE, an international technical organization based in Atlanta, writes standards that set uniform methods of testing and rating equipment and establish accepted practices for the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) industry worldwide. ASHRAE standards carry no actual authority on their own, but are commonly adopted into building codes by states or municipalities.

The proposed revisions to Standard 62-1989 were denied passage in their current form in a June 1997 ASHRAE meeting, a decision Mr. Schoen characterized as "a major victory for the tobacco lobby." Nevertheless, Mr. Schoen said revised indoor air quality standards are not a question of "if" but "when."

"Despite the delay, I expect there will eventually be a change for the normal amounts of ventilation," he said.

Such a change would essentially mean an end to smoking in buildings that meet current standards, Mr. Schoen said. Building managers can choose to defy the standards, he said, but could run legal risks by doing so.

Meeting the revised standards will require significant upgrades of ventilation systems for buildings that allow smoking, and that will cost them dearly, Mr. Schoen said.

"These are just rough estimates, but I would guess upgrading to a higher ventilation system would cost anywhere from $10 to $50 a square foot, and from 25 to 50 cents per square foot per year in additional operating costs," Mr. Schoen said.

An informal survey of major developers indicates 80% or more of malls nationwide have banned smoking in common areas. Developers who have imposed bans in all of their centers include Simon DeBartolo Group, Indianapolis; TrizecHahn Centers, San Diego; Taubman Centers Inc., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; The Macerich Co., Santa Monica, Calif.; Urban Retail Properties, Chicago; The Rouse Co., Columbia, Md.; and Westfield Corp., Los Angeles. Other developer/managers, including General Growth Properties, Chicago; The Cafaro Co., Youngstown, Ohio; and ERE Yarmouth, Atlanta, allow individual mall managers to make their own decisions on smoking, but say between 75% and 90% of them disallow it.

However, even in some malls with smoking bans, people are allowed to light up in, for instance, in-line restaurants. But these tenants too would be "negatively impacted" by stricter air quality standards, and Mr. Schoen recommended shopping center managers start preparing now for the tighter codes.

"Shopping centers are going to have to look at leases and make sure that those tenants that allow smoking will provide the additional ventilation at their own expense," he said. "Otherwise, they should let tenants know that a change in standards would disallow smoking."

Revised indoor air quality standards will be good for the overall health of people, and the buildings in which they work and shop, Mr Schoen said. Certainly the banning of smoking in malls, a trend that began in 1992, has not proven as problematic as was first feared, he added.

"In my experience, it's been almost no issue," he said. "When the first centers started banning smoking, they expected a huge backlash, but it hasn't happened."

Mall operators that have eliminated smoking in common areas agree.

"There really wasn't the backlash we feared," said Bob Aptaker, vice president for environmental affairs for The Macerich Co. "On the other hand, when we did have smoking, we heard a lot of opposition from the nonsmoking side."

Macerich eliminated smoking at its centers in 1995. The company's only trouble spot was Chesterfield Town Square in Richmond, Va. -- the heart of Philip Morris country. At the time Macerich acquired the center in 1995, Chesterfield had been "adopted" by smokers who left a neighboring mall that had already banned smoking, Mr. Aptaker said.

Most centers have found the favorable public relations of eliminating smoking has more than made up for the risk of alienating customers who do smoke. Simon DeBartolo Group teamed with organizations such as the American Cancer Society to hand out chewing gum at some malls after Simon banned smoking in all its centers in 1994.

Many centers that still allow smoking have restricted the areas in which it is permitted.

"Years ago, it was a situation where there were ashes up and down the main concourse," said Chuck Caputo, director of operations for the Cafaro Co. "It's not like that any more. We studied competing malls in our region, did intercepts and polled retailers, and as a result, came up with a policy for each of our centers."

What originally was done, then, as a customer comfort issue will save regional malls HVAC costs should the proposed code revisions be adopted. But developers are clear that customer concerns are their top priority.

"There's always a concern about alienating a group of shoppers, but when it comes to smoking, the overriding issue is the safety of the majority of a mall's employees and customers," said Cindy Bohde, a spokeswoman for Urban Retail Properties.