Flatiron District Office Space, Sized for a Company That Is Still Hiring

Sizing a Flatiron floor against the hiring plan

Start from the plan your board has seen, not the stretch case. Take the headcount it shows 12 to 18 months out, multiply by 175, and that is the floor to tour. A company at 40 today with 55 in the plan is looking for about 9,600 square feet, and it should resist talking itself down.

There are two honest ways to take less. One is a smaller floor with an expansion right that is written into the lease. The other is a term short enough that the next move is already scheduled. Empty desks cost money, but moving in the middle of a term almost always costs more than carrying them for a year. A hybrid schedule usually trims the figure by 10 to 20 percent, not more.

Why Flatiron suits a growing company, and where it stops

The transit reach is the argument. Trains stop inside the district at 23rd Street and the Union Square junction is one stop south, so the hiring pool is the whole city, and the address is one candidates already know. The lofts were built open, which is the layout most engineering teams want.

The limit is the floor plate. Flatiron floors typically run 5,000 to 11,000 square feet, so a company that passes 60 people either takes two floors in one building or leaves for a neighborhood that builds larger. Ask that question on day one, not in year three.

What to compare when touring Flatiron floors

• Light: a corner building lit from two streets is a different office from a mid-block floor.
• Elevators: how many cabs, and whether one of them opens directly into your space.
• The test fit: where the columns and windows put desks and rooms at next year's headcount.
• Condition: raw, prebuilt or furnished, and what the landlord will contribute.
• The building's other floors: which leases above and below you end during your term.

The last item is the one growing companies skip. How to tour office space has the full list.

Lease terms that let a growing team stay put

Four rights do most of the work: a right to expand into adjoining space, a first offer on whichever floor over or under yours comes free, a sublet clause under which the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse consent, and an assignment clause that survives an acquisition. They are settled once, at the term sheet, and are hard to add afterward. Your attorney should confirm the wording. Lease options explains each, and leasing between funding rounds shows how they fit a plan.

Floors for about 40 people, in the block below

The live block lists floors that fit a team of about 40, from one that seats today's team at the standard density to one with room to hire into, each with its size and asking rent. It covers our whole book, so Flatiron floors sit beside comparable ones nearby, which is also how we would build your shortlist.