Office Space for Lease, Startup-Ready: What That Should Mean on a Listing

Four tests for a startup-ready floor

• Condition. Pre-built or furnished: a pantry, meeting rooms and an open desk area already there, ideally wired.
• Term. A short commitment is on offer, 12 to 36 months and not five years or more.
• Possession. The floor is empty, or will be by a stated date that falls before you need it.
• Size. It holds the team you have plus the hires already planned, at about 175 square feet per person.

A floor that misses a test is not ruled out. It becomes a floor with a known price: weeks of buildout, a longer lease, a wait, or empty desks.

The speed test: pre-built or furnished

A pre-built floor is one the landlord finished to a working standard before any tenant signed, and many arrive with furniture as well. You inherit an office instead of a construction project. What is left between signature and move-in is insurance, internet and building access, usually two to four weeks of it. A raw floor has to go through design, permits and construction first, typically 10 to 16 weeks.

The trade is control. Paint and furniture are yours to change. Walls generally are not without the landlord's consent, and alterations can come with a duty to undo them when you leave, which your attorney should check in the lease. Pre-built space, explained covers what to check in the condition language, and the furnished floors page gathers the floors on our list that are furnished or pre-built.

The term test: how short a lease an early-stage team can sign

For a private floor, 12 months is possible, and 24 and 36 are seen more often. Shorter terms carry a higher rent per square foot and a smaller contribution from the landlord, since there is less time to recover it. For a team that cannot see past its next round, that premium buys the right to decide again in a year or two.

Short-term supply is thin at any moment, so the search goes by what exists first and by preference second. The short-term lease playbook prices the trade.

Who Nomad works for on a startup's search, and who pays

On your search, we work for you. That covers finding the floors, measuring them against the four tests and negotiating the terms. Nomad also offers agency leasing and owner representation, which means it leases some buildings on behalf of the people who own them. If one of those buildings fits your search, we tell you so, and it is fair to ask before any tour. That situation has a name, dual agency, and it cannot go ahead in New York unless tenant and owner have each been told and have each given informed consent.

In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. Ask us to confirm how the fee works on your deal, and what we would want signed, before the first startup-ready floor is toured.

What to send for a first shortlist of startup-ready floors

Three numbers: headcount today and after the hires you have planned, the date you want to be in, and a monthly budget. Add how long you are willing to commit, because that decides which landlords will talk. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours, and a first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours. Read each floor on it against the four tests, and ask us where one falls short.