Did you consider renting in a different part of NYC to get out of that personal liability?
However, I suspect expensive and sophisticated pockets all across NYC will also insist on the same Good Guy guarantee. It’s just too easy to register an LLC/C-corp, and if too many people use that hack to walk away from serious commitments, that will freeze the commercial lease market.
Once I crystalized what I wanted to optimize for (the "why" and the "what"), many other big decisions downgraded into low-uncertainty execution issues of "how".
However, this calculation is personal and will differ for every startup/founder. I'd even say that unless you are sure that NYC/Manhattan is the right place for you right now, it almost certainly isn't. Living & building here requires conviction and must be re-evaluated every few years.