Finding New Space
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Introduction
We are a "matching service" for industry tenants in specific professions, looking for offices within an appropriate professional firm.
If you are looking for an individual office or group of offices within someone else's space – we can connect you with appropriate opportunities.
We help tenants find shared professional office space for free.
Firms with extra offices advertise them direct to you.
Prospective tenants respond to the advertisements and speak to (or email) the party that controls the space.
If you have any questions please Contact Us, or call our office in New York at (212) 986-9100. We’re here to help you.
Searching
It’s easy to find all of the offices for rent in a specific city, neighborhood or zip code, and then filter the list to find exactly what you're looking for.
Just enter a location in the search bar at the top of every page, and click "SEARCH"
This will display ALL of the listings in that geographic choice, in chronological order with the most recently listed or updated ads appearing first.
Next, click in the header, and the filtering tool will open.
If you want to start with a narrow field, hoose the professional category you'd like to see displayed first.
If you hover over the categories you can either choose all listings within that category or click on one of the specialties to show that specialty first.
If at any time you want to see the original results, click in the header.
You can reopen the tool and also filter the number of offices, listing age, street name, etc. (It's OK to make multiple choices before clicking "Filter Results")
You can select any small listings with the checkbox (top right) and click either "Hide" or "Save".
Click on any small listing to open the full page version with multiple photos, long descriptions and a form to contact the advertiser by email.
If you take the time to register we’ll show you the full contact information for the advertiser (Name, Firm/Practice, Phone and Suite #). You'll also get a dashboard to save favorite listings in your account)
The large listing will also give you some navigation options. To the right of the address you'll see buttons to advance to the next listing or revert to the previous listing, or see the entire list
What do you get?
Office space sharing takes place across all types businesses, industries and professional practices. A "shared" space will generally incorporate one or more dedicated rooms or workstations with the premises of a larger firm that gets rented on a full time basis.
With the small office space rental the "guest" tenant is generally allowed to share specific amenities provided by the "host" for their employees. The basics include conference room use, kitchen and lunch room, receptionist, and shared use of a copy/scan/fax machine.
Frequently the offices will be completely furnished. Most (but not all) offices will have a full time receptionist to meet and greet visitors. Electricity, air conditioning, cleaning, utilities etc. are provided as part of the rental. Optional items, depending on the host’s offering are:
- Cubicles (usually additional)
- Conference room use (usually by prior sign-up)
- Signage (identification on a case by case basis)
- Use of the phone system
- Telephone answering
- High speed internet
- File storage in common area
- Part time secretarial help
- Part time paralegal help
- Industry periodicals
- Shared kitchen with (usually) filtered water and coffee/tea
How much does shared office space cost?
There is great variation across the nation with respect to the monthly rent for occupancy in a shared space. It also varies greatly, city to city, for serviced office space in an executive suite or business center. The variables are:
- The size of the office and the number and configuration of the windows
- Term of lease (shorter being less expensive)
- Neatness of the space overall
- Size and business population of the central business district
- Proximity to transportation and amenities
- Building age, size and quality of construction and maintenance
- Views and light
- Multiple conference rooms (sometimes with hourly cap per month)
- Furnishings and the quality thereof
- Available copy/scan/fax and postage meter, included (with cap) or not
- Office supplies included or not
In Manhattan, for example, individual offices in the 120 sq. ft. range in a Class A building range from 2100 per month to 2900 per month. In a Class B building the difference is approximately 17.5% lower.
A Partner's office in New York City is generally in excess of 175 sq. ft. and has at least 2 windows. In Class A buildings we see a rental range between $2900 and $3300 per month. If the office is a corner unit the range is $3200 - $4250 per month. These same rentals hold true for executive suites or business centers for their larger offices.
The approximate rentals indicated above take into account most of the bulleted items above. The primary factors are location, size and "curb appeal" overall. There is a great variety of office styles, each representing the sensibilities of the "host" and accordingly each having its own monthly rental range.
Segmented by industry on our website you can search for legal office space, financial office space, tech/media office space, legal suites, executive suites and small private office space.
3. What should you look for?
The environment you're potentially moving into is for the most part, an unknown at the initial stage of your inquiry. You should always meet, and interview the partner or executive who is in charge of administering the office space. Alternately you should meet with the office manager or site manager. The personality of the person in charge will permeate the environment, and more than anything else you must assure yourself that the new environment will be conducive to your work style and your personal attributes.
This seems pretty obvious – but a lot of people skip this step. When you've narrowed down the possibilities to your "top 2" you should visit the space on a day when you can use the conference room for half an hour. Get settled and interpret the "vibe", and then walk around the space a bit and observe the people and their habits – they could be your office mates in the immediate future and you have to like what you see and feel. If there are other subtenants (licensees) in the space I would ask the host's permission to speak to one of them – and you can informally ask them about their experience renting space from the host.
When we show space to a tenant we always try to ask an impromptu question in the elevator. Just say – "so what is it like to be a tenant in this building?". Usually you'll get a glowing report – but occasionally you will learn about a significant defect in the building or its management that you would not have discovered until after you had moved in.
Observe the following as you walk around the premises:
Observe the following as you walk around the premises:
- Is there extra "stuff" in the common areas (paperwork and detritus), or is the environment kept neat? We favor the minimalistic option when it comes to the common areas.
- Take a peek into the offices as you walk through the space. Any hoarders? Loud talkers or conference calls with open doors? Spicy (fragrant) "at desk" diners? Pets? Gigglers and loud laughers?
- Usually you won't find any of these things. We rent offices in a law firm and our place is generally quiet as a pin – but if there are issues in the space you’re considering, you should find out about it in advance, rather than after the fact.
For the most part, issues like these are handled appropriately between individuals that care about each other and want to follow the golden rule. But every once in awhile there will be an issue that needs a little outside supervision from the office manager or principal you dealt with to obtain the space.
Most people will say that this is just common sense – and in fact it is. What I need to stress to people who are doing this on their own and who don't have a lot of experience with the conventions, is that you can't be shy about asking important questions. It is not considered impolite and if you get all your questions answered, you won't have any unexpected disappointments in the future. It is worth the effort to be a good detective when you are representing yourself. - Are there locks on the doors to the offices (if you need them). Likewise with the desk drawers and filing cabinets.
- Is the phone system modern? If you’re using the phone system you should find out if it includes updated features like message transcription to email. If it is included is there an additional charge for using it? Is phone answering service available (and if so what is its cost)?
- Does the internet connection have good bandwidth? You could even ask to do a speed test on an idle computer. Is there an option for you to upgrade to a higher speed if necessary? Don’t be embarrassed to ask these questions – it is for your own good. Caveat emptor!
- Verify that the office gets cleaned and the trash gets taken away nightly.
- Verify that you have key, card key or code pad access to the building and the space and your office – at all times.
- Understand the air conditioning system and hours of operation.
- Determine whether or not you’d be allowed to provide your own Internet if you wanted to?
- How are mail and packages handled?
- Is the contemplated transaction legal? Is the consent of the Landlord required? Will your name or company name be visible in the building directory?
The printable list below is a sample of various items you should ask about – and feel free to add your own specific needs (i.e. "Do you stock herbal tea?"). Print out the sheet to keep a record of the deal points for each potential transaction. If you are looking at multiple spaces it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a picture of the reception area to help you remember what you’ve seen. After 3 inspections, things tend to jumble together.
LOOKINGFOR SPACE.com Office Inspection Fact Sheet PRINT FORM
Date of Inspection: | |
Toured With- (Contact Information): | |
Address: | |
Neighborhood: | |
Floor/Suite: | |
Premises:(Windowed offices, Interior offices, Cubes): | |
Furniture: | |
Monthly Rental: | |
Additional Rent: | |
Future Escalation: | |
Start Date: | |
End Date: | |
Security Deposit: | |
Conference Room(s): | |
Phones: | |
Internet: | |
Reception Service: | |
Phone Answering: | |
Kitchen (Supplies and Beverages): | |
Copy/Scan/Fax Postage Machine | |
Air Conditioning and Heat: | |
Mail and Package Handling: | |
Signage: | |
Lobby Directory: | |
Landlord Consent Required? | |
Furniture: | |
File Storage Space: | |
Building Amenities: | |
Public Transportation / Parking: |