Commercial Real Estate Advisory for NYC Startups: Four Decisions Before the Search
Commercial real estate advisory, for a New York startup, is the thinking that happens before anyone tours: whether to lease at all, how much space to take, what the office can cost each month, and which two neighborhoods to see. An advisor works through those four decisions with the founders in that order, because each one narrows the next. At Nomad Property Group the advisor is a licensed New York real estate broker, so the person who gives the advice can also run the search afterward. If you want the advice with no transaction attached, say so on the first call.
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Talk through my four decisionsUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
Decision one: lease, sublease, or stay in coworking a while longer
Team size answers most of this. A Manhattan coworking desk costs roughly $800 to $1,400 a month. Under about 15 people that usually beats a private floor on total cost and commits the company to nothing. Past about 20, the private floor is usually the cheaper one per person. Between those two sizes, the specific deals decide.
A sublease sits in the middle: another company's built space, taken for what remains of its lease, usually quicker and cheaper than a direct deal and accepted largely as it stands. Founders who cannot forecast headcount a year out should hear that plainly before they tour anything. Coworking, sublease or a private HQ compares the three at length.
Decisions two and three: square feet, then the all-in monthly number
Space comes before money because the budget depends on it. The rule of thumb is 175 rentable square feet per person, with 15 to 25 percent added for a team that expects to hire.
Then the money. Landlords quote a yearly rate per square foot, so the monthly rent is that rate times the square feet, divided by twelve. That is not yet the budget. Electricity adds roughly $2 to $4 per square foot per year. Rent steps up by roughly 2.5 to 3 percent each year under the escalation clause. The landlord will want a security deposit or a letter of credit, the floor needs furniture and cabling, and a buildout can run past what the landlord's allowance covers. The advisor's job here is to hand the founders one all-in monthly figure they can put before a board. The cost guide goes line by line.
Decision four: the two neighborhoods worth an afternoon
Two is the right number. One neighborhood gives the founders nothing to compare, and five turns a search into sightseeing. Start from where the team and the people you want to hire live, then ask whether clients ever come to the office. If they never do, an expensive address buys little. If they do, it may be worth paying for.
Plan one afternoon for the tour: three to five floors, split across the two neighborhoods. Choosing an office neighborhood sets out the full method.
Where a first budget usually starts: the floors under $75
A first budget is best set from the lower price bands and raised only when a specific floor earns it. The block on this page shows the floors in that band, with the size and the current figure for each, so decisions two and three can be tested against real space before the search begins.
Floors asking under $75 per square foot
Live from our listings · 6 of the 23, cheapest first23 of the 46 floors with a published rent ask under $75 per square foot per year, from 2,500 to 27,344 square feet.
- Floors
- 23
- Sizes
- 2,500-27,344 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $43-$72 / sq ft
- 137 East 25th Street, 6th Floor 8,308 sq ft $43/sq ft Flatiron about 47 people
- 127 West 26th Street, Entire 7th Floor 9,500 sq ft $50/sq ft Chelsea about 54 people
- 151 West 26th Street, 12th Floor Penthouse 17,610 sq ft $56/sq ft Chelsea about 101 people
- 45 Broadway, Partial 12th Floor 2,624 sq ft $60/sq ft FiDi about 15 people
- 275 Seventh Avenue, Entire 24th Floor 18,668 sq ft $63/sq ft Chelsea about 107 people
- 1450 Broadway, Entire 4th Floor 17,296 sq ft $65/sq ft Bryant Park about 99 people
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
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- Commercial Real Estate Broker Services for Startups: How Nomad Works With You
- Startup Office Leasing by Rail: What a Commercial Real Estate Broker Looks For
- A Commercial Real Estate Broker in New York for a Company Opening Its First Office Here
What does a commercial real estate advisory firm do for a startup, concretely?
It turns a vague need for an office into a decision the founders can defend: whether to lease, how much space, at what monthly cost, and where. Once those are settled the same firm, if it is a brokerage, runs the search, compares landlord proposals and negotiates the lease. At Nomad the advice and the brokerage come from one licensed team.
Can founders get advice from Nomad without committing to a lease?
Ask for exactly that on the first call, because advice with no deal behind it is a different arrangement from a search. A broker earns a commission only once a lease is signed, and in most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee, so the terms of advice alone have to be agreed before any work starts. That first call is also the moment to ask what a full search would have the founders sign.
How long before a move should founders work through the four decisions?
About two quarters before you want to be at your desks. Counting from the first tour, a pre-built floor takes six to eight weeks to reach move-in and a custom buildout takes four to six months, and all four decisions should be made before that first tour. They take a conversation or two, not weeks.
Is the advisor working for the startup or for a landlord?
On your search, we work for you. Nomad also offers agency leasing and owner representation, which means it leases some buildings for the people who own them. Should a floor in one of those buildings make your list, that is dual agency, which New York allows only with informed consent from both landlord and tenant, so ask us which floors it applies to before you tour. The brokerage page explains how each role works.
Talk to a broker
Want this answered for your team?
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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