Commercial Lease Brokers in NYC for Professional Firms: Law, Accounting, Finance

Commercial lease brokers in NYC do the same core job for a professional firm as for any tenant: write the requirement, find the floors, compare the offers and negotiate the lease. What differs for a law, accounting or finance practice is the plan. Where many people need private offices, allow about 225 square feet per person, not the standard 175, and check it with a test fit before bidding. Location follows the partners' commute, which is why this page shows Grand Central: Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road both arrive under the terminal. In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee.

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Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

What a lease broker does for a professional firm, in brief

We start with the roster: partners, associates and staff, and how many of them need a door. That becomes a written requirement with a size, a date and a budget. We survey what fits, tour a shortlist with you, order test fits on the finalists, ask the landlords for proposals and compare them over the whole term. Then we negotiate the letter of intent and carry the business terms through the lease, which your attorney reviews.

Space planning when most of the firm works behind a door

The planning figure for most companies is 175 square feet per person. A practice where many people have private offices needs about 225. For a 30-person firm that is the difference between roughly 5,250 and 6,750 square feet, and private offices also cost more to build, because every one needs its own partitions and glazed front.

A number is only an estimate until it is drawn. A test fit lays your offices, workstations and conference rooms onto the actual floor, around its columns, core and window line. Two floors of equal size can hold different numbers of perimeter offices. Landlords often fund the drawing for a space under serious consideration, and we ask for it after the shortlist and before any letter of intent.

Why Grand Central: the trains under the terminal, and who rides them

Metro-North brings in Westchester and Connecticut. The Long Island Rail Road now arrives beneath the same terminal, and the terminal also holds the 4/5/6, the 7 and the shuttle. For a firm whose partners and senior people live along those lines, an office a few blocks away means stepping off one train and walking to a desk.

That is the test to run before touring: count the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road riders on the leadership roster. If there are several, the district belongs on your shortlist. The buildings split between prewar properties on the side streets, many already laid out with enclosed offices, and newer towers on the avenues. The Grand Central guide describes both, and the block on this page shows what we list there.

Tenant's broker or landlord's broker: two sentences for a managing partner

A tenant's broker is hired by the firm that will occupy the space, and a landlord's broker is hired by the owner to lease a building. Nomad does both kinds of work, which means agency leasing and owner representation as well as tenant brokerage, and on your search it works for you.

Grand Central office space available now

Live from our listings · cheapest first

2 offices are available in Grand Central right now, from 5,230 to 5,772 square feet, asking $72 to $89 per square foot per year. The Grand Central median is $80.50.

Floors: 2
Sizes: 5,230-5,772 sq ft
Asking rent: $72-$89 / sq ft
Median: $80.50 / sq ft

Everything available in Grand Central, with photos and rents →

The full guide

This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:

How much space does a 25-lawyer firm need?

About 5,625 square feet if most of the lawyers have private offices, using 225 square feet per person. Client meeting rooms or file storage push that higher. A test fit on a specific floor turns the estimate into a count of offices.

Why not plan a professional firm at the standard 175 square feet?

Because 175 assumes mostly open seating. An enclosed office takes more floor area than a workstation, and a firm of partners with doors runs short of rooms quickly at that figure. Plan at about 225 and adjust once the layout is drawn.

Is Grand Central right for a firm whose partners live in the city?

Less obviously. The district earns its place when the people who matter most ride commuter rail. If the roster lives in Manhattan, other neighborhoods may serve it as well or better, and choosing an office neighborhood explains how to compare them.

How are commercial lease brokers paid on a firm's lease?

In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee, as a commission at signing. Each deal's commission agreement confirms it. A managing partner should still ask, ahead of the first tour, whether any fee could fall to the practice.

Talk to a broker

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Tell us three things: team size, timing, budget. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the asking rent on every floor that publishes one.

Within the houra broker reaches out during business hours, no automated triage
On your sidewe work for you on your search, and the landlord usually pays our fee
Open pricingasking rent published for 46 of 49 floors, size and address for all
300+ officesdelivered in New York, 2M+ sq ft leased

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