How to estimate avg $ per sq ft in different cities?
Hi /r/CommercialRealEstate! Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but had a question I thought you might be able to help me with.

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I'm scouting office spaces for a client to help them pick a location for their new HQ. We're choosing between cities (e.g. NY vs LA vs Nashville) and I wanted to see if there was a quick and easy-ish way to estimate the avg $ per sq ft of office space in each city. This would allow me to clearly see a side-by-side to weigh rental cost. Of course I have some hypotheses on which city will be cheapest but I need some hard-ish numbers to make a decision.

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Thanks so much for your help!
[{"id": "erf8c9w", "text": "Just look up market reports from the largest commercial brokerages in the respective cities, they should give you an idea of where rents are. NKF, CBRE and JLL all make good market reports for many large cities in the US. From there you can find actual buildings that meet your requirements and see what they are asking.", "replies": [{"id": "erf8xbd", "text": "Awesome, thanks! Will try that, and any other ideas people might have.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "erfbnlr", "text": "The CBRE reports were hugely helpful, thank you!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "erf8x7p", "text": "NY &gt; LA &gt; Nashville", "replies": [{"id": "erf9ckl", "text": "Is that in terms of high cost to low cost? I'd assumed Nashville would be cheapest", "replies": [{"id": "erfcwhs", "text": "Careful - Nashville has a building boom right now and is one of the more costly markets at the moment.  Certainly not as much as NYC, but probably not as far off from LA as one would suspect.", "replies": [{"id": "erft381", "text": "True - that's exactly what the numbers say. I found this from digging through CBRE reports:\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nOffice space cost comparison (price per square foot):  \n\n* Nashville: $29 \t\n* NYC / Manhattan: $80 \t\n* LA: $42", "replies": [{"id": "erfxri9", "text": "id be extremely hesitant to use a number. Take LA for example. It's a massive place. you can get fine suburban office space, recently constructed, for $24 FSG. Or you can get prime silicon beach tech space for $75 NNN. Telling your client $42 can make you look really, really bad", "replies": [{"id": "erj3vlh", "text": "Well said. It\u2019s difficult to conceptualize the market or location when your not actually there, especially LA!", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}, {"id": "erfxmmb", "text": "nashville is an incredibly hot market. i represent a huge and desirable tenant with an seemingly straightforward industrial rquirement and it took nearly a year to find a building. don't sleep on the rising small cities were millennials want to live (Boulder, Austin, Nashville, Savannah, etc)", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "erfop2x", "text": "Any interest in TX?\n\nHappy to provide information on Dallas and Fort Worth.", "replies": [{"id": "erft41m", "text": "Not for this client, but thanks!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "erfpkzj", "text": "A super broad average rent psf isn't going to be that big of a help without the context? Are you comparing Class A upper floor downtown space in an incredible location, or a functional Class C in a suburb near the freeway, for example? You'll see massive differences in price, more so than just by which metropolitan area you are looking at. Also, keep in mind that wages/cost of living, taxes, utilities, etc. all vary so there are other costs to consider when selecting and HQ beyond face rent. To say nothing of where the pool of talent is they are trying to hire, do they need proximity to a major airport, are there tax incentives to locate in certain places, where are most of their clients, etc.", "replies": [{"id": "erfstkm", "text": "Completely agree - should've clarified in my post but this is a very very high-level analysis right now - just wanted a quick n dirty way to show a comparison using the closest proxy for \"cost\" on office lease across a set of cities. We are also looking at avg salary as a proxy for cost.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nAnd on your point about talent - we are looking at that as well, right now looking at top universities in each city  with quality programs in relevant fields, as well as the top employers currently in each city that are in the same industry as the client.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nThe actual scouting for specific office space / office space types (Class A vs C , neighborhood location, etc.) will happen later once a city is decided on", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "erftygs", "text": "If you need a good broker in Nashville I have a great team I can recommend.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ermuybs", "text": "[Here you go](http://tinypic.com/r/ztvuyq/9)", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "esb20je", "text": "Try JLL: https://www.us.jll.com/en/trends-and-insights/research/office-market-statistics-trends", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]