Office Space for 20 People in SoHo

Where the 175 square feet per person goes

Twenty people at 175 square feet each comes to 3,500, a number that surprises founders who have only ever counted desks. A workstation and chair take roughly 25 to 30 square feet; the rest buys what is not a desk: two enclosed meeting rooms, phone rooms, a pantry with a table people will actually sit at, an IT closet, and the circulation joining them.

Teams that need more usually know why. Five private offices consume about 120 square feet each, and a sample room is close to non-negotiable for the fashion and consumer companies that fill much of SoHo. We would not plan below about 150 a head; under that line the meeting rooms vanish before the desks do.

What it costs here, and what it costs citywide

The six SoHo floors that fit twenty carry a median asking rent of $115 per square foot per year. That puts 3,500 feet at $402,500 a year, $33,542 a month, about $20,125 per person. Against the $75 citywide median across our book the same footprint runs $262,500 a year, $21,875 a month, making the SoHo premium on this team $140,000 annually.

That median reads high even by local standards, for a structural reason. SoHo's own median across the nine floors we represent is $98, and the one floor priced meaningfully under it, at $68 a foot, is a 27,344-square-foot plate. Nothing about that is a 20-person space, so a small requirement shops the expensive half.

Electricity is billed on top at $2 to $4 a foot, $7,000 to $14,000 a year here, and escalations mean the year-five rent is not the year-one rent.

What a floor for twenty needs on the plan

Every floor in this range holds the team on one plate, and a team split across two half-floors loses the informal contact that justifies having an office. At this headcount we lay out two enclosed meeting rooms, one seating eight to ten and one for four to six, plus two or three phone rooms. One conference room becomes a booking fight by month two.

Rentable feet are not the feet you plan on: usable area typically lands 15-25% below rentable, so 3,500 rentable is 2,625 to 2,975 usable, or 131 to 149 square feet a person on the drawing.

6 Greene Street and 520 Broadway are entire floors, where the elevator opens into your space; 110 Greene and 60 Charlton share a corridor and restrooms with a neighbor. SoHo lofts run long and narrow with windows at both ends, pushing enclosed rooms to the middle and desks to the glass, so test fit before comparing rents.

Thirty people, and the clauses that get you there

Thirty people want 5,250 square feet, and five of these six floors already carry that or come within a few hundred feet of it: 503-511 Broadway about 32 desks, 520 Broadway about 32, 104-110 Greene about 31, 60 Charlton about 29, 6 Greene about 28. Only 110 Greene, at 3,750 feet and 21 desks, gets outgrown inside a normal term.

Growth room costs less than the headline rates imply. 6 Greene at 4,900 square feet and $78 is $31,850 a month, only $2,162 more than 110 Greene's 3,750 feet at $95, for 1,150 more square feet, close to seven more desks.

Set the term to match what you know. An uncertain two-year headcount argues for a sublease or a three-year deal; confidence argues for five to seven years, which is what buys improvement allowance and free rent. Either way we negotiate a right of first offer on contiguous space, an expansion option tied to a named suite and date, sublease consent that cannot be unreasonably withheld, and a letter of credit that burns down.

What we have in SoHo for twenty right now

Six floors on our book fit this footprint today, $78 to $125 per square foot per year, the four detailed below plus 104-110 Greene Street's partial 11th at 5,375 square feet and $110, about $49,271 a month, and the 503-511 Broadway penthouse at 5,552 feet and the same $125, about $57,833 a month:

• 6 Greene Street [Entire 2nd Floor], 4,900 sq ft at $78, about $31,850 a month, roughly 28 desks. Furnished, private offices and a pantry, and the value here by some distance.
• 110 Greene Street [Partial 5th Floor], 3,750 sq ft at $95, about $29,688 a month, roughly 21 desks. Furnished, exposed brick, the smallest floor in the submarket.
• 60 Charlton Street [Partial 8th Floor], 5,003 sq ft at $120, about $50,030 a month, roughly 29 desks. Plug and play, with a conference room, phone booths and reception.
• 520 Broadway [Entire 10th Floor], 5,539 sq ft at $125, about $57,698 a month, roughly 32 desks. Prebuilt, and the dearest here at $125, a rate it shares with the slightly larger 503-511 Broadway penthouse.

Tour at least three in one afternoon. Asking rent here is an opening position, not a taking rent, and free months, improvement dollars and escalation caps move the effective number more than the $47 spread across this list.