Temporary Office Space for NYC Startup Teams: A Bridge While the Real Office Is Built

Temporary office space, also called swing space, is a furnished office a team works from for a fixed stretch while its permanent one is found or built. A startup needs it when the old lease ends before the new floor is ready: building a floor to your own plan usually runs 10 to 16 weeks from signing, and the search and the lease come first. Coworking can start in days, and a furnished private floor is usually ready two to four weeks after signing. Either carries a premium over a long lease, in exchange for a much shorter commitment. We run the bridge and the headquarters as one search.

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Find us a bridge office

Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

The bridge period, counted in weeks

Work backward from the day the old space ends:

Before construction: the search for the permanent office, two to four weeks with a defined brief, then the proposal, one to two, and the lease, three to six.
Construction: 10 to 16 weeks from signing for a custom buildout. Design takes two to three, permits and long-lead orders three to four, and the building work six to nine.
The gap: whatever part of that falls after your current lease expires, plus a cushion for delay.

Staying on in the old space without an extension is the expensive way to cover the gap, because holdover is commonly billed at 150 to 200 percent of the last rent. The buildout timeline shows where the weeks go.

Match the temporary space to the length of the gap

A few months: coworking desks, where nearly all of Manhattan's month-to-month space is, at roughly $800 to $1,400 a desk each month.
Several months to a couple of years: a sublease with a short tail, if the right length is on the market. It lasts only as long as the original tenant's lease.
A year or more: a furnished private floor. Twelve months is about the shortest term on a floor of your own, so this fits when the permanent search has not started or the buildout is a large one.

We lay out what is open in each category for your dates.

Why swing space should arrive furnished

Buying furniture for a temporary office means buying it before you know the permanent layout. New desks run $2,000 to $4,000 each, and a furniture order has a lead time of its own. A furnished floor or a coworking suite has the desks, the wiring and the internet in place, and there is nothing to dismantle when the permanent office opens.

It also keeps the temporary lease simple: you take the space as it is and hand it back as it was. Every furnished and prebuilt floor we publish is on one page, and a selection is below.

What a bridge costs next to a longer lease

More per month, less in total commitment. Coworking charges by the desk, and a short-term floor asks a higher rent per square foot than the same space on a long lease, because the owner has less time to recover its costs. What you avoid is the alternative: holdover rent in the old space, or a permanent lease signed in a hurry because the clock ran out. Budget for some overlap as well, since a few weeks of paying for two spaces keeps the move from depending on everything going right.

From swing space to a long-term headquarters, with one firm

The bridge only works if it leads somewhere. We run both searches together: a broker reaches out within the hour during business hours, we put the temporary options next to the permanent shortlist, and we set the end date of one against the delivery date of the other. Flex by Nomad supplies furnished private floors for the bridge, and our construction management team can run the buildout of the permanent one.

Furnished and prebuilt floors available now

Live from our listings · 6 of the 24, cheapest first

24 floors we list are furnished or prebuilt, so a team can move in without running its own buildout. They run from 2,500 to 19,097 square feet, asking $44 to $135 per square foot per year.

Floors: 24
Sizes: 2,500-19,097 sq ft
Asking rent: $44-$135 / sq ft

All 24 furnished and move-in-ready floors →

The full guide

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

How quickly can a startup be working in temporary office space?

Days in coworking, and usually two to four weeks after signing on a furnished or prebuilt private floor. A sublease takes longer, because the building's owner has to consent first. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours.

Can we rent a private floor for only three or four months?

Rarely. A landlord will usually want about a year on a floor of your own. For a gap that short, the realistic choices are coworking or a sublease that happens to have a few months left. If the gap could stretch, a 12-month furnished floor with sublet rights gives you room.

Is it better to stay in the old office and pay holdover?

Usually not. Holdover is commonly 150 to 200 percent of the last rent, and some leases add the landlord's losses if your overstay delays the next tenant. If you need only a few weeks, ask the landlord for a written extension before the lease ends. Your attorney should confirm what your lease says.

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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