A Short-Term Office Lease for a High-Growth Startup: No Longer Than Your Forecast
A short-term office lease suits a high-growth startup because the lease should run no longer than the hiring forecast you actually trust. If headcount could double in 18 months, a five-year floor sized for now will be wrong long before it ends. The path that works has two stages: 12 to 24 months on a furnished or prebuilt floor, sized 15 to 25 percent above present headcount, then an expansion or a move at the next round. The price is higher rent per square foot than a long lease. On your search, we work for you: we search for the first floor and put the exit rights into its proposal.
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Find a floor we can grow intoUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
Why a company that may double should commit for less time
A lease is a bet on headcount. A typical Series A company has 15 to 30 people and expects 40 to 80 by its Series B, so a floor that fits on signing day will not fit a year later, and nobody can say exactly when. A short term turns that uncertainty into a date: in 12 or 24 months you decide again, with real numbers.
A ten-year lease brings the largest concessions, and it is rarely the right first lease for a company whose plan changes every two quarters.
Stage one: 12 to 24 months, with room for the hires you expect
Size the first floor on 175 square feet a person, then add for hiring. Teams that expect to grow usually take 15 to 25 percent more than present headcount needs. Say 30 people: 5,250 square feet at the planning figure, and roughly 6,000 to 6,600 with the margin.
Take it furnished or prebuilt. There is nothing to build, so the team is usually in two to four weeks after signing, and nothing of yours is left in the walls when you go. The floors below are sized for about 30 people, and the 30-person page has more.
What the short term costs a fast-growing team
Rent per square foot is higher on a short lease, the concessions are smaller, and the floor comes as built. Our playbook on short-term headquarters leases prices that at 10 to 20 percent above what comparable space costs on a long lease.
Set that against the two costs it avoids: moving out of a floor you outgrew in year two of five, or carrying one you cannot fill. For a company whose headcount is a guess, the premium is often the cheapest of the three.
Stage two: expand in the building, or move at the next round
Plan the exit when you sign, not when the term is ending:
- A right of first offer on adjacent space, so growth can mean the floor next door.
- A renewal option, in case the forecast was right and the floor still fits.
- Sublet rights, in case the round is late and you need to hand space on.
- A decision date on the calendar, with the next search starting two quarters before expiry.
When the round closes, the second lease is sized on a year of evidence about how the team uses space. Series A to Series B covers that move.
How we run both stages for a growing startup
Send headcount today, the number your plan reaches in 18 months, and the date you need desks. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours, and a first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with furnished and prebuilt floors marked. We ask for the stage-two rights in the first proposal, negotiate the lease alongside your attorney, and run the second search when the date arrives.
Floors that fit a team of 30
Live from our listings · 6 of the 22, smallest firstA team of 30 plans on about 5,250 square feet at 175 a person. 22 floors on our book sit in the range that fits, 5,250 to 9,450 square feet, asking $43 to $125 per square foot per year on the 21 with a published rent.
- Floors
- 22
- Sizes
- 5,250-9,000 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $43-$125 / sq ft
- 104-110 Greene Street, Partial 11th Floor 5,375 sq ft $110/sq ft SoHo about 31 people
- 213 West 35th Street, 11th Floor 6,100 sq ft $52/sq ft Penn Plaza about 35 people
- 540 Broadway, Entire 2nd Floor 6,350 sq ft $85/sq ft SoHo about 36 people
- 500 Fifth Avenue, Entire 55th Floor 6,928 sq ft $125/sq ft Bryant Park about 40 people
- 137 East 25th Street, 6th Floor 8,308 sq ft $43/sq ft Flatiron about 47 people
- 151 West 26th Street, Partial 10th Floor 9,000 sq ft $64/sq ft Chelsea about 51 people
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
- Short-Term Office Leasing for a Startup Team in NYC: What You Will Be Asked For
- Short-Term Commercial Leasing in NYC: What Short Means Here and What It Costs a Startup
- Flexible Commercial Lease Terms in NYC: The Flexibility You Write Into a Longer Lease
- Flexible Lease Terms on NYC Office Space: The Three Places They Come From
How much extra space should a fast-hiring startup lease?
Usually 15 to 25 percent above what present headcount needs at 175 square feet a person. More than that and you are paying for desks whose offers have not gone out. If the plan calls for far more growth, a shorter term or a right to expand does the stretching better than empty space.
Is it cheaper to sign short twice or long once?
Per square foot, long once. In total, it depends on whether the long lease would have fit for its whole term. A company that doubles has to sublet or leave a long lease early, and that cost belongs in the comparison.
Can a startup stay in the same building when it outgrows a short-term floor?
Sometimes. It depends on the building having space to offer when you need it, which is more likely in a larger building. A right of first offer in the lease means the landlord must bring adjacent space to you before marketing it; without one, you compete for it like anyone else.
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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