4 Little Known Secrets to Know About Your NYC Office Space Lease
If you’re coming back to the office or thinking about it, you’re probably wondering what to do (and what everyone else is doing) with hybrid work, bringing people back to the office, and your office space. Here’s the problem with getting real, honest answers: commercial real estate is notorious for opaque, nonpublic information and competing agendas — and we’ll let you guess who benefits from that (hint: it isn’t tenants). We’re here to pull back the curtain and tell the truth.
Here are 4 “little known secrets” you should know about what’s happening in the NYC office space market, and why they matter to you:
Short term subleases are the best kept secret: flexibility is the hottest commodity right now; coworking is king for leases under 12 months, but for leases between 12 months and 3 years (or longer), short term subleases are the best kept secret – they’re designed, furnished, easy and often very discounted (the companies subleasing just want them off their books). Here is an overview of short term subleases and coworking space to help you decide which solution makes the most sense for you.
You can terminate your lease if it no longer works (and take another that does…or not): if your lease doesn’t work anymore (and many don’t)….you can terminate it. Many tenants don’t know this, and the ones that do may not understand that the way to get this done is actually fairly simple, and many Landlords are willing to come to the table and make a deal with the right offer.
You can restructure your lease and lower your rent (even if your lease doesn’t expire in the near future). With 20% vacancy in the market, Landlords want to keep you, even if your existing lease doesn’t work anymore (and many don’t). The key is showing your landlord that the lease no longer works and creating a “stalking horse” space outside of the building to make it clear that you can and will move elsewhere if they can’t make it work to keep you.
Landlords are adjusting their old ways” to bring new tenants to their space: as landlords compete for tenants – and in many cases, compete with the allure of remote work – they’re willing to make more concessions than ever. Some examples include:
25% to 30% rent reduction compared to pre Covid levels and other economic incentives
building the space for Tenants for a shorter deal (this used to be reserved for 5+ years, if it happened at all)
furnishing and wiring their space so you can “plug and play” (previously for subleases only)
Engaging architects, move consultants and other 3rd parties to help ensure the space works
The Takeaway:
Why a secret? Most brokers also rep landlords (and their interests). Let’s put it this way…would you negotiate against your landlord client with a large portfolio to help one tenant? Yeah, we’d hesitate too. That hesitation is why we only represent tenants only (and never landlords), and why trust is the foundation of our business. Without your trust, we have no business – so your space is your face, but it’s also ours.
Please feel free to respond to this email or call me at 917-862-8820 if you’d like to discuss your options.
Contact us:
Please reach out to our founder, Bert Rosenblatt at brosenblatt@vicuspartners.com, or at (917) 862-8820 to see if we can answer any questions or get started finding you the right space solution.