How to Search for Office Space in Phoenix, Step by Step

Before you open a listing site, write down what the space has to do for your business. It keeps you from touring spaces that were never going to work.

• Headcount, now and later. Plan for the length of the lease, not just today. A lease often runs several years.
• Layout. How many private offices, open desks, meeting rooms, and storage or production areas you need.
• Property type. Office, medical office, flex, or coworking. Medical and flex space have their own requirements.
• Must-haves. Parking, transit, signage, after-hours access, natural light, or a ground-floor entrance.
• Timing. When you need to be in, and when your current lease or notice period ends.

A space planner or tenant rep can turn your headcount and layout into a square-footage range. Keep in mind that listings are usually quoted in rentable square feet, which includes a share of the building’s common areas. Our guide to lease terms explains the difference.

Rent is only part of the cost of an office. Build a budget that covers everything you will pay to occupy and use the space:

• Base rent, and how it increases each year
• Operating expenses, taxes, and insurance, depending on the lease type
• Parking
• Build-out costs that the landlord’s improvement allowance does not cover
• Furniture, cabling, and technology
• Moving costs, and any overlap with your current lease

Furniture and moving costs often land at the same time as the security deposit and the first rent payments, so plan your cash for move-in, not only the monthly cost.

The Phoenix metro has several office centers instead of one downtown, so choosing areas first narrows the search a lot. Our Phoenix office space guide describes each one. A few questions help:

• Where do your employees live, and how will they get to work? Valley Metro light rail serves Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. In most of the metro, people drive.
• Where are your clients, and how often do they visit?
• Do you need to be near Sky Harbor, a hospital, a university, or a freeway?
• Does the address itself matter for your brand, or is cost the bigger factor?

Area guides: Downtown Phoenix, Camelback Corridor, Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert, Chandler, and Mesa.

Many listing sites share the same database. LoopNet and CityFeet are both part of the CoStar network. CommercialCafe, CommercialSearch, and PropertyShark share Yardi’s network. Searching two sites from the same family mostly shows you the same spaces twice.

A good starting set for Phoenix is LoopNet (CoStar), Crexi (independent), and CommercialCafe (Yardi), plus Moody’s CRE Marketplace, OfficeSpace.com, or Brevitas for more coverage. If you need short terms, add a flex marketplace such as LiquidSpace or Coworker.com. Our where to search page compares each site and has a search launcher that opens each site’s own filtered results.

Sites name areas differently. For the Camelback Corridor, LoopNet and CityFeet use Biltmore, while Crexi, CommercialCafe, and OfficeSpace.com use Camelback East. OfficeSpace.com uses Central City for Downtown Phoenix.

Save searches or set alerts where a site offers them, so new listings come to you.

Listing sites show the spaces landlords choose to advertise. Other options can include:

• Spaces coming available soon, before they are listed
• Subleases from companies with more space than they need
• Spaces a landlord prefers to lease quietly

Broker relationships are the usual way to find these, which is one reason many tenants work with a tenant rep.

Pick the spaces that fit your needs and budget, then ask the listing broker for the facts that listings often leave out:

• Asking rent and the lease type (full service gross, modified gross, or triple net)
• An estimate of operating expenses, and what they include
• The date the space is available, and the lease terms the landlord wants
• Any tenant improvement allowance or free rent the landlord is offering
• Parking: how many spaces and what they cost
• A floor plan

Listings can go stale, so confirm the space is still available before you schedule a tour.

Touring several options gives you a basis for comparison, and the landlord needs to know you have alternatives. On each tour, look past the finishes:

• HVAC. How it is zoned, and what after-hours heating and cooling cost.
• Columns and shape. Columns and odd floor plates limit furniture layouts and how many people fit.
• Loading and freight access. Dock and elevator access matter for move-in and later moves.
• Ceiling height and natural light. They change how the space feels day to day.
• Restrooms, accessibility, and internet providers. Ask what is already in place.
• Parking and access. Visit at the time of day your team would arrive.

Ask each landlord for a written proposal, then put them side by side. Two spaces with the same asking rent can cost very different amounts once you add operating expenses, parking, annual increases, free rent, and the improvement allowance. Our guide to asking rent vs. effective rent shows how to compare offers on equal terms.

Most lease negotiations start with a letter of intent (LOI) that sets the main business terms, followed by the lease itself. The biggest levers are usually base rent, free rent, the tenant improvement allowance, and renewal options. Operating expense caps, expansion rights, early termination, parking, and personal guarantees are also worth negotiating.

Have a real estate attorney review the lease before you sign, and line up furniture, cabling, and moving with your move-in date. For a planning calendar, see how long it takes to find office space.

A tenant rep is a licensed real estate broker or agent who represents the tenant, not the landlord. A good one can run steps 3 through 9 for you: search the whole market, set up tours, compare proposals, and negotiate. The tenant rep’s fee is typically paid by the landlord. Before you choose one, read 7 questions to ask a tenant rep.