The Rent Abatement Clause on a Midtown Office Lease Near Rockefeller Center

A rent abatement clause is the part of an office lease that grants free rent, and on a Midtown lease near Rockefeller Center its wording is worth as much as the number of months. The clause states how many months are abated, when they begin, which charges are excluded and what a default does to them. On your search, Nomad asks for the abatement in the letter of intent, prices it together with the improvement money and the face rent, and then checks the lease draft against what was agreed. In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee.

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Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

The clause, line by line

The count. How many months of base rent are abated. It is negotiated with the term, and no building has a fixed number.
The start. Whether the months run from lease commencement or from rent commencement, and whether they sit on top of a construction period or are used up by it.
The exclusions. Most clauses abate base rent only, so electricity and escalations continue. If the abatement is meant to cover more, the clause has to say so.
The default language. Many abatements are conditional: a default can suspend the remaining months or make the abated rent repayable.

One negotiation: free months, improvement money and the face rent

Tower landlords defend the face rent, because the stated number sets the comparison for every other floor in the building. The room to move is around it. A free month and a dollar of improvement allowance are different forms of the same money, and an owner who will not add to one will often add to the other.

So we do not negotiate the abatement alone. Each landlord's proposal is converted to net effective rent across the term, with the free months, the allowance and the escalations counted in, and the offers are compared on that. How to negotiate an office lease explains the order in which the terms move.

What Nomad does at the proposal stage

Before any offer: we ask what the buildout will cost and when you need to be in, because both decide how many months to ask for and where to put them.
In the letter of intent: the abatement goes in as a number of months with its start date and its scope, not as a line to be settled later. Changing a term at this stage takes one sentence.
In the lease draft: the landlord's attorney writes the first version. We read the abatement clause against the letter of intent and flag what has drifted, and your attorney negotiates the default and clawback language.

Nomad Property Group is a licensed New York real estate broker that also offers agency leasing and owner representation. On your search, we work for you. Free rent covers the concession in full.

Where the floors are: Midtown, the nearest we list to Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center occupies the blocks from 48th to 51st Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth, with the B, D, F and M trains underneath and Grand Central a short walk east. Its tenants lean toward media, finance and law. We have no separate page for the complex, so the live block below shows our Midtown floors, the nearest to it that we list, with the size and asking rent of each.

Midtown is tower stock: large floors, staffed lobbies and building services. The Midtown page has every floor, and on any of them the clause above is what we would put in the first proposal.

Midtown office space available now

Live from our listings · cheapest first

4 offices are available in Midtown right now, from 7,092 to 19,097 square feet, asking $79 to $130 per square foot per year on the 3 with a published rent. The Midtown median is $125.

Floors: 4
Sizes: 7,092-19,097 sq ft
Asking rent: $79-$130 / sq ft
Median: $125 / sq ft

Everything available in Midtown, with photos and rents →

The full guide

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

Who pays the broker who negotiates the abatement?

In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. The details are fixed deal by deal in the commission agreement, so ask how the broker is paid on yours before any proposal goes out.

Should free rent be settled in the letter of intent or left for the lease?

In the letter of intent. The months, the start date and what they cover should all be written there, while both sides still have alternatives. A term left for the lease is negotiated later, from a weaker position.

How much free rent do towers near Rockefeller Center give?

There is no posted figure, and we do not promise one. About one month per year of term is a common shape on New York office deals, and the count depends on the term, the work the space needs and how long the floor has been empty. Each building settles it deal by deal.

What happens after I send my requirement?

A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours, and a first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours. From there come tours, usually of three to five floors in one afternoon, then proposals from the landlords of the finalists, each asked for its abatement in writing.

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
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