A guide to flex space, including executive suites and self-contained furnished private offices, and office space for rent in New York City, plus general information that may be useful if you are considering renting office space in NYC.
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History & Geography
As arguably the greatest city in the world, New York City holds a special place in the hearts and minds of not only its residents but of millions around the globe who have never even been to the Big Apple. The most populous city in the US is located in the northeast of the country at the mouth of the Hudson River, halfway between Washington, D.C., and Boston. New York City boasts one of the world’s largest natural harbors, with most of the city on the islands of Manhattan, Staten Island, and Long Island.
Manhattan and Staten Island are also two of New York City’s five boroughs; the other three are Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx.
Before Europeans arrived, the Algonquin tribe inhabited the area. In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano became the first European to discover the harbor, which he claimed for France. However, in 1609, explorer Henry Hudson sailed into the harbor and claimed the area for the Netherlands, dubbing it New Netherland.
In 1614, the Dutch established the fur-trading colony of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. In 1664, the Dutch surrendered it to the British, who promptly renamed the settlement New York. The settlement grew rapidly under British rule and soon became a city.
Though Yellow Fever severely affected its population between 1700 and 1800, the city prospered. In 1769, the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the Revolutionary War, was fought nearby. The Americans were routed, and for the rest of the conflict, New York City became an important center of British military operations. After the war, the city resumed its rapid growth. In the mid-19th century, its population ballooned as immigrants from Ireland fled the Potato Famine. Immigrants also arrived from Germany, Poland, and Greece.
By the 1920s, New York had become the world’s most famous city, taking the mantle from London. The city’s economy suffered during the Great Depression but boomed after WWII. It again hit the doldrums in the 1960s and 70s but revived in the 1980s, largely thanks to its financial services industry.
On September 11th, 2001, New York’s World Trade Center was destroyed in the worst terrorist attack on American soil in history. In 2014, the One World Trade Center was completed. Also known as One WTC and the Freedom Tower, it stands 1,776 feet tall, to recall America’s Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Today, New York is a city of enormous power, wielding influence over politics, the economy, culture, and media.
Economy
In 2024, New York City had a population of around 8.5 million, and in 2023, NYC’s GDP was $1.286 trillion.
New York is a global center of finance and commerce. Along with London and Tokyo, the city is considered one of the ‘command centers’ of the global economy. Much of this is due to the size of the city’s financial services industry. About 10 percent of the city’s private-sector employment income comes from financial services, and New York is home to both the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, the two largest stock exchanges in the world.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the largest and most influential of America’s 12 regional banks, implements monetary policy in the US. Beyond financial services.
In November 2026, it was reported that NYC was the second-most valuable tech hub in the world, after Silicon Valley, home to over 25,000 tech-enabled startups, with over $713 billion in startup ecosystem value, reflecting the value created through startup valuations and exits over time.
NYC’s tech ecosystem supported 845,000 jobs and generated $327 billion in annual economic output, accounting for 12 percent of all NYC jobs and nearly one quarter (24 percent) of citywide economic output.
Another significant part of the city’s economy is real estate — the market value of New York City’s commercial properties in 2026, including offices, stores, and hotels, was estimated at circa $350 billion citywide (with total citywide property values reaching $1.66 trillion).
It is home to the headquarters of some of the world’s largest corporations, including more Fortune 500 companies than any other city on earth. In 2026, NYC was home to 43 Fortune 500 corporate headquarters and 114 Fortune 1000 headquarters.
Many foreign corporations also have a presence in New York, with an estimated one out of every ten private-sector jobs in the city being generated by a non-American company.
Media, film, and, of course, retail are also major industries in New York. The city also has one of the world’s largest tourism industries.
Culture & Tourism
New York is famous worldwide for its distinctive culture and abundance of tourism sites and attractions. The city attracted 65 million visitors in 2025 and is home to the most visited tourist site in America – Times Square. It also boasts many other perennial tourist attractions, such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Greenwich Village, and Rockefeller Center.
New York is also the site of many events which attract hundreds of thousands of tourists, such as its Thanksgiving Day Parade, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and its Halloween Parade. New York City’s booming retail industry is also a major draw, with many tourists coming from Europe and around the world for shopping holidays in the Big Apple.
The World Trade Center site has also become a popular place to visit for tourists who want to remember the attack in 2001. The 9/11 Memorial was attended by 11.3 million visitors in 2025.
Of course, New York also has a wide selection of museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Ellis Island Museum, and the Guggenheim Museum. The city is also famous for its thriving nightlife, featuring some of the world’s best clubs, pubs, restaurants, and bars, spread across Soho, Tribeca, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
Transportation
Unlike many American cities, New York has a vast and efficient public transportation system. New York’s transport system is the most extensive in the US and runs for 24 hours a day. The city is served by three airports: John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, and LaGuardia. New York is America’s number-one air passenger gateway, and John F. Kennedy International Airport alone handled 62,629,455 passengers in 2025.
New York offers several public transport options, most notably the famous New York subway system. The city also boasts an extensive bus system as well as taxicabs and ride-hailing services such as Lyft and Uber.
Because of its efficient public transport system, New York is one of the most energy-efficient cities in the US, with many residents walking to work. In 2026, approximately 69,400 New York City residents used a bicycle as their primary means of getting to work, accounting for roughly 1.7 percent to 2.0 percent of active workers.
New York City’s primary bike-sharing system is Citi Bike, operated by Lyft. It is an app-based system comprising approximately 35,000 bikes and over 2,000 docking stations.
New York has been ranked as the 2nd most walkable city in the US, after San Francisco.
Office Space for Rent in New York City
In the second quarter of 2018, the average quoted leasehold annual rent in the NYC office market across all building classes was $60.26 per square foot. This represents a $0.87 per square foot decrease from $61.13 in the first quarter.
The quoted leasehold office space rents in the 2nd quarter of 2018 across the various submarkets of Manhattan were as follows:
Chelsea – $59 per square foot per annum, City Hall – $56.82, Columbus Circle – $52.92, Financial District – $53.16, Gramercy Park – $69.59, Grand Central – $64.95, Greenwich Village – $61.30, Harlem / N Manhattan – $40.13, Hudson Square – $78.95, Insurance District – $56.94, Murray Hill – $59.02, Penn Plaza / Fashion – $51.27, Plaza District – $72.73, SoHo – $62.44, Times Square – $63.69, Tribeca – $61.59, U.N. Plaza – $62.59, Upper East Side – $66.02, Upper West Side – $84.10, World Trade Center – $56.21.
Q2 of 2018 was active, and the following office leasing deals were the most notable of the quarter:
Pfizer, Inc. – 793,000 square feet at 66 Hudson Blvd, Penn Plaza submarket.
Latham & Watkins, LLP – 408,000 square feet at 1271 6th Avenue, Columbus Circle.
Discovery Communications – 360,000 square feet at 230 Park Ave South, Gramercy Park.
J. Crew – 321,731 square feet at 225 Liberty Street, World Trade Center.
Facebook, Inc. – 281,213 square feet at 770 Broadway, Greenwich Village.
Total leasing volume totaled 10 million square feet in the second quarter.
Over 3 million square feet of office space was under construction during Q2 2018. The largest projects were:
30 Hudson Yards (500 West 33rd St.): 2,600,000 square feet. Delivery Q3 2019. 100 percent pre-let. Developer – Oxford Properties Group.
One Manhattan West (400 West 33rd St.): 2,216,610 square feet. Delivery Q1 2019. 55 percent pre-let. Developer – Brookfield Office Properties.
Two Manhattan West (385 Ninth Ave.): 1,950,140 square feet. Delivery Q1 2023. Developer – Brookfield Office Properties.
One Vanderbilt Avenue: 1,732,955 square feet. Delivery Q3 2020. 100 percent pre-let. Developer – SL Green Realty Corp., Inc.
55 Hudson Yards (550 West 34th St.): 1,556,134 square feet. Delivery Q3 2018. 86 percent pre-let. Developer – The Related Companies.
The Manhattan office market saw circa 42 million square feet of office leasing activity in 2025, the borough’s strongest annual leasing performance since 2019.
In Q1 2026, Manhattan leased 12.4 million square feet of office space, up 10.5 percent from the previous quarter and marking the strongest single quarter of leasing since 12.7 million square feet in Q4 2019.
New York City’s overall office vacancy, across its five boroughs, stood at 14.6 percent in Q1 2026, compared with the US nationwide vacancy rate of 16.4 percent.
Manhattan’s office vacancy rate stood at 13.1 percent at the end of Q2 2026.
Manhattan office leasing totaled 10.8 million square feet in Q2 2026.
Savills reported that Manhattan office leasing activity totaled 10.3 million square feet in Q3 2026, down 4.7 percent from Q2 and 2.8 percent year over year, but still above the 2015-2019 quarterly average.
Manhattan’s overall availability rate fell 0.90 percent over the quarter and 2.8 percent year over year to 13.4 percent, while Class A availability declined to 12.1 percent. The tightening was broad-based, with 15 of Manhattan’s 19 submarkets recording declines in availability over the quarter. Midtown remained the tightest market at 12.0 percent, down 1.8 percent year over year, while Midtown South availability fell 4.7 percent to 14.4 percent.
As availability fell, Manhattan’s overall average asking rent rose to $82.14 per square foot per annum, up 8.9 percent year over year, while Class A asking rents rose 9.9 percent to $94.91 per square foot. Rent growth was strongest in Midtown, where overall average asking rents reached $86.96 per square foot, and Class A asking rents surpassed $100.00 per square foot for the first time, reaching $102.36 per square foot. Midtown South Class A asking rents rose to $111.99 per square foot, while Downtown Class A asking rents reached $71.46 per square foot.
According to JLL, total leasing activity in Brooklyn totaled 669,107 square feet year to date through Q3 2026, down 36.6 percent from the same period in 2025.
Brooklyn’s overall vacancy rate stood at 21.2 percent at the end of Q3 2026, up 1.3 percent on the previous quarter; however, it remained 1.8 percent below its year-ago level.
Brooklyn’s average asking rent increased by $0.28 from Q2 to $51.29 per square foot per annum in Q3 2026, ending four consecutive quarters of decline.
The largest office leasing deal of Q3 was Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School’s lease of 60,278 square feet at 5902 Sixth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
The popularity of flexible workspaces in New York City continues, with serviced offices, managed office space, co-working spaces, hot desks, and other options increasingly chosen by occupiers ranging from solopreneurs to corporations.
In 2018, WeWork was just one lease away from being the biggest private office space occupier in Manhattan. If it leased just another 75,000 square feet — a typical size for WeWork — it would occupy more space than JPMorgan Chase, then the biggest office occupant in New York’s Manhattan market.
Large corporate tenants have been increasingly opting for flex space over the last decade, and WeWork reported in 2018 that 22 percent of Fortune 500 companies were members.
Other large flexible workspace providers in New York include Convene, Durst Ready, Industrious, NYC Office Suites, Regus, Servcorp, and Spaces.
Profiles of all flex space opertors and providers in Manhattan can be seen below:
Flexible Workspace and Coworking Providers in Manhattan
Flexible workpsace operators and providers in Brooklyn include BKLYN Commons, Green Desk, Orchard Workspace and The Yard.
Profiles of all flex space opertors and providers in Brooklyn can be seen below:
Flexible Workspace and Coworking Providers in Brooklyn
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