Jersey City Trumps Manhattan, Landing Big Fish with DTCC’s 415,000SF Office Lease
New York's loss is New Jersey's gain, as the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation reveals plans to relocate 1,600 members of its 2,300-member staff to 415,000 square feet of space at the Newport Office Center in Jersey City. It's not a total defeat for New York, however; DTCC will keep its headquarters and its remaining 700 employees in Lower Manhattan.
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor
New York’s loss is New Jersey’s gain, as the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation reveals plans to relocate 1,600 members of its 2,300-member staff to 415,000 square feet of space at the Newport Office Center in Jersey City. It’s not a total defeat for New York, however; DTCC will keep its headquarters and its remaining 700 employees in Lower Manhattan.
Developed by the LeFrak Organization, the Newport Office Center sits along the Hudson River and consists of eight buildings totaling approximately 5 million square feet of premier office space. DTCC signed a long-term lease for its space and will relocate nearly two-thirds of its employees to the behemoth complex early next year. New Jersey went on quite the campaign to secure DTCC as a new resident. The state provided a package of economic incentives that includes grants from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority that will help finance DTCC’s relocation.
But it wasn’t all about the financial benefits for DTCC. The company’s decision to make part of its home in New Jersey was also driven by the lower cost of leased office space; infrastructure support; easy access to DTCC’s lower Manhattan headquarters; as well as the availability of highly skilled workers, as the company wants to be prepared for future business expansion.
As for the future of DTCC’s New York City headquarters location, the company’s current 750,000-square-foot lease at 55 Water Street is scheduled to expire at the close of 2012, and the company is currently working on solidifying a new lease agreement for space to house its headquarters staff, as well as additional employees for its new growth businesses.
Premier office rents in New York City have plunged as the financial crisis continues to force companies to downsize and abandon space; however, the price tag for office digs is still quite higher than that found just across the river in New Jersey. In Manhattan, the average asking rent for Class A space is $67.85, compared to $31.73 in New Jersey’s Hudson Waterfront submarket.
