SoHo Office Space: What It Costs and What Leasing There Is Like

What a SoHo office costs, and what the premium pays for

SoHo sits above the citywide middle on rent, and the block below shows by how much: the range, the median and each floor's asking figure. What you are paying for is the building type and the name. Compare any SoHo floor with a similar loft in Flatiron or Chelsea on the same afternoon, and treat the difference as a marketing cost. For a consumer brand or a design studio it often earns its keep. For a team that never has visitors it is harder to defend.

Cast-iron lofts in a historic district

The buildings were put up as showrooms and small factories. Cast iron allowed thin columns and very large windows, so a typical floor has glass at the front and the back and ceilings of 12 to 14 feet. Floors start around 5,000 square feet in a classic loft and pass 25,000 in the largest conversions.

Most of the district is landmarked. Changes to the exterior, signs and some interior work need approval from the city's landmarks agency on top of ordinary permits, which can add two to four weeks to a buildout schedule. Ask the landlord for the building's alteration history in writing, and have your architect and attorney confirm what a given project requires. The SoHo neighborhood guide goes further into the buildings.

SoHo's trains, and the companies that take space there

Subway service is better than the neighborhood's boutique image suggests. The 6 and the N/Q/R/W stop at Spring and Prince Streets, the 1 and the A/C/E run along the western edge, and the B/D/F/M stop at Broadway-Lafayette. Midtown is about fifteen minutes away.

Fashion and consumer labels lead the tenant list, followed by design studios, architects, media businesses and European brands opening a New York base. Many use the office as a showroom or event space as well as a place to work. Broadway is crowded on weekends, and the side streets, Greene, Mercer and Wooster, are much calmer.

Direct lease or sublease in SoHo, and for how long

A direct lease is signed with the building's owner. It usually runs several years and can come with free rent and money toward the buildout. A sublease takes over another tenant's space for what remains of that tenant's term, typically for less rent and with the space as it stands. Direct lease and sublease explain the rights under each.

SoHo owners know their floors are scarce, so the asking rent tends to hold and the give comes in the term and the timing. Furnished and prebuilt floors do come up in SoHo, and on those an owner may accept as little as 12 months, with 24 and 36 more usual. Signage rights and facade work need their own language in a SoHo lease because of the landmark rules.

SoHo next to Flatiron and Chelsea

Flatiron and Chelsea offer similar loft floors, more of them, and simpler buildouts. Engineering-led teams usually end up there. Brand-led companies choose SoHo because the neighborhood is part of how they present themselves. SoHo vs Flatiron compares the floors and rents of the two as they stand.