Scalable Office Space for High-Growth Startups: Size for the Midpoint, Not for Today
Scalable office space is an office whose lease can absorb growth: room for the hires already planned, a term no longer than you can forecast, and rights to add space without relocating. A Series A startup is typically 15 to 30 people heading for 40 to 80 by Series B, so an office sized for the current team is usually too small within a year. Three decisions make an office scalable. Size for the midpoint of the hiring plan. Set the term by how far you can forecast. Secure expansion rights on adjoining space. We work through all three with you before any proposal is requested.
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Plan our next office with usUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
Decision one: size for the midpoint of the hiring plan
Take the headcount in the plan your board saw for 12 to 18 months out, and multiply by 175 square feet. A team of 20 heading to 45 is looking at about 7,875 square feet, not the 3,500 that fits it now. The midpoint is a compromise between two costs: empty desks in the first months, and a move in the second year. The block on this page shows floors that fit about 45 people.
Check the input before the output. The number is wrong if the stretch case is setting the square footage, or if the seat count includes hires who have not been offered a job yet. The office space calculator sizes to whichever of two headcounts is larger.
Decision two: a term you can actually forecast
Landlords prefer long terms, because free rent and improvement money are recovered across them. A company between rounds can rarely see further than two or three years, and a term that runs past your runway plus one raise outlasts the money meant to pay for it.
A shorter term has a price: less free rent, a smaller allowance, often a higher rent per square foot. Treat that as what it costs to be able to decide again, and weigh it against being locked into the wrong floor.
Decision three: rights that let growth happen without a move
- A right of first offer on the adjacent floor or suite, so you see that space before the market does.
- An expansion option on named space, at set dates.
- Sublet rights with consent not unreasonably withheld, which is the remedy if the next round is late.
- Assignment rights that survive an acquisition or a change of corporate entity.
These cost a landlord little on signing day and are negotiated once, in the letter of intent, or not at all. Using any of them means sending written notice within the window the lease defines. Miss the date and the right is usually gone, so have your attorney confirm the notice mechanics. Lease options explains how each one works.
Traditional lease or flexible space at Series A
Either can be scalable. A direct lease carrying the rights above gives the most room to grow and the largest landlord contribution, in exchange for a longer commitment and usually a buildout. A furnished or pre-built floor on a shorter term trades those for speed and a smaller commitment, and suits a company whose plan is truly hard to forecast.
The rule from our playbook: when the plan cannot be forecast, buy flexibility as a visible line, a shorter term or a flexible floor, instead of hiding it in unused desks.
Floors that fit a team of 45
Live from our listings · 6 of the 10, smallest firstA team of 45 plans on about 7,875 square feet at 175 a person. 10 floors on our book sit in the range that fits, 7,875 to 14,175 square feet, asking $43 to $200 per square foot per year on the 7 with a published rent.
- Floors
- 10
- Sizes
- 8,230-13,754 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $43-$200 / sq ft
- 151 West 26th Street, Partial 10th Floor 9,000 sq ft $64/sq ft Chelsea about 51 people
- 127 West 26th Street, Entire 7th Floor 9,500 sq ft $50/sq ft Chelsea about 54 people
- 66 Hudson Boulevard, Partial 53rd Floor 10,517 sq ft $200/sq ft Hudson Yards about 60 people
- 30 West 21st Street, Entire 9th & 10th Floors 10,562 sq ft rent on request Flatiron about 60 people
- 1239 Broadway, Entire 12th Floor 12,500 sq ft $62/sq ft NoMad about 71 people
- 836 Broadway, Entire 2nd Floor 13,754 sq ft rent on request Union Square about 79 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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- Manhattan Uptown vs Downtown for an Office: Where a Company New to the City Fits
When should a Series A startup begin its office search?
Tour before the round closes and sign after the money arrives. Search, lease and move-in add up to roughly three months. Begin touring when the term sheet arrives, and the desks are ready about when the new hires are. The Series A to Series B playbook covers the sequencing.
What if the Series B is delayed after we have leased for growth?
That is the case sublet rights are for. A company that stalls can recover part of the cost by subletting the space it has not grown into. A company locked into a floor that is too small has no comparable remedy.
How is scalable office space different from simply renting a bigger office?
A bigger office handles growth with square feet alone. A scalable one combines moderate extra space with a term and rights that let the lease change as the company does. The second usually costs less, because an option on space is cheaper than the space itself.
What will a board want to know before approving the lease?
Usually three things: the total obligation over the term, the downside protection if plans change, and comparable rents. Boards tend to approve a search when those answers arrive on a single page: three candidate floors, the figures for each and a recommendation. We draft that memo for companies at this stage.
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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