Commercial Space for Lease in NYC: From Two or Three Finalists to a Proposal
When a startup's search for commercial space for lease in NYC has produced two or three floors worth pursuing, the search is over and the deal begins. Nomad asks each landlord for a written proposal, has a test fit drawn on each floor, and puts the proposals on one basis so they can be compared on effective rent instead of asking rent. The best of them is negotiated into a letter of intent covering the rent, the term, any free rent, the landlord's improvement allowance and the security. A decisive team can get from its first tour to a letter of intent in a couple of weeks.
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Get proposals on my finalistsUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
From a shortlist to finalists: why we ask more than one landlord
After tours, most teams have a favorite. We still request proposals on two or three floors, because a landlord who knows a comparable alternative exists answers differently from one who knows you have fallen for the space. Keeping a second floor in play until terms are signed is the strongest position a tenant holds.
The request goes out in writing. It describes the company, the size, the term and the date, and asks each owner to propose rent, free rent, an improvement allowance or landlord's work, escalations, security and a delivery date.
The test fit comes before the letter of intent
A test fit is a quick layout of your team on a specific floor: desks, meeting rooms and phone booths drawn around the real columns, core and windows. It turns rentable square feet into a count of seats. Landlords often pay for one on a floor a tenant is serious about, and we ask for it as a matter of course.
The order matters. A floor that cannot hold the team fails before anything has been negotiated, and what the drawing shows about construction feeds straight into the allowance we ask for. Ordered after the letter of intent, the drawing can only confirm a problem. What a test fit is goes further.
Effective rent: how we put a startup's proposals on one line
Asking rent is the face figure. Effective rent is the cost of the floor over the full term after free rent and the landlord's contribution to the buildout have been spread across it. Two proposals with the same face rent can sit well apart on that measure.
Take a worked example. Say two floors of 4,400 square feet both ask $70. One landlord offers three months free on a three-year term and the other offers one. On rent alone the first costs about $51,000 less over the term, before any difference in allowance or escalations. We lay every proposal out this way, with the rentable size and the escalations priced in. How to choose a tenant rep broker works a two-proposal case in full.
What the winning proposal becomes: the terms in a startup's letter of intent
- Rent, and how it rises each year.
- Term, with the dates on which the lease and the rent each begin.
- Free rent: how many months, and where in the term they fall.
- The improvement allowance or the landlord's work, tied to the condition the floor is delivered in.
- Security: a deposit or a letter of credit, how much, and any schedule for reducing it.
Options to renew, expand or sublet belong here too. A number is easy to move at this stage and slow to move once attorneys are trading drafts. The letter of intent entry covers what binds and what does not.
What Nomad does at the proposal stage
We write and send the requests, chase the responses, arrange the test fits, build the comparison and carry the counteroffers back to each landlord. You decide. Nomad does the talking, which keeps a founder's enthusiasm for a favorite space off the table. No concession is promised at this stage. What it produces is each landlord's real position, in writing.
Every request and counteroffer goes out on your behalf: on your search, we work for you, and in most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. The floors below are sized for about 25 people, for a team that has not reached its finalists yet.
Floors that fit a team of 25
Live from our listings · 6 of the 24, smallest firstA team of 25 plans on about 4,375 square feet at 175 a person. 24 floors on our book sit in the range that fits, 4,375 to 7,875 square feet, asking $44 to $135 per square foot per year.
- Floors
- 24
- Sizes
- 4,900-7,500 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $44-$135 / sq ft
- 6 Greene Street, Entire 2nd Floor 4,900 sq ft $78/sq ft SoHo about 28 people
- 4 World Trade Center, Partial 44th Floor 5,023 sq ft $115/sq ft FiDi about 29 people
- 503-511 Broadway, Penthouse 5,552 sq ft $125/sq ft SoHo about 32 people
- Empire State Building, Partial 43rd Floor 5,621 sq ft $90/sq ft NoMad about 32 people
- 22 West 27th Street, Entire 7th Floor 6,000 sq ft $57/sq ft NoMad about 34 people
- 237 West 27th Street, Entire 11th Floor 7,158 sq ft $44/sq ft Chelsea about 41 people
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
- Commercial Space for Rent in NYC: From Search Results to a Tour Day
- Office Space for Lease, Startup-Ready: What That Should Mean on a Listing
- Office Space for Rent for Startups: What the Landlord Will Ask Your Company For
- Searching for Office Space: Comparing the Listings on Your Shortlist Side by Side
Do we have to pay for a test fit on each finalist?
Usually not. Landlords often fund one for a floor under serious consideration, through the architect the building keeps on call.
How long does the proposal stage take a startup?
The offer and the letter of intent usually take one to two weeks of back and forth, depending on how far apart the two sides begin and how fast each decides. The lease follows, and takes three to six weeks more.
Is a signed letter of intent the end of the search?
Not quite. The business terms in it generally bind neither side before the lease itself is signed, so either party can still walk. Landlords rarely reopen a signed letter, but we keep the second floor warm until the lease is executed. Your attorney should confirm which paragraphs do bind.
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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