In the latest in a series of successes for the Newport section of Jersey City, Newport Office Center III opened last week at 499 Washington Blvd. and will now officially be known as the PaineWebber Building. Assorted public officials and development executives were on hand for the ceremonial ribbon cutting on a bright, sunny Tuesday morning that was drenched with optimism and visions of the future of Jersey City’s business community. Joining Dr. Sam LeFrak, chairman of the Lefrak Organization, were Rep. Robert Menendez (D-13th Dist.) and Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, as well as various city officials and real estate moguls. The two elected officials congratulated LeFrak on opening the new building and continuing the development of Newport at a dizzying pace. As the ribbon was being cut at the PaineWebber Building, its next door neighbor was having its steel structure topped off. “The best is yet to come,” LeFrak said. Since ground was broken, it took the builder only nine months to erect the third in his battery of five office towers. The 800,000 square foot NOC IV, located next door from the PaineWebber offices, will be named the ISO Building for its Insurance Services Office tenant, which will be relocating its international headquarters to Jersey City from its current World Trace Center address upon completion. The PaineWebber Building is completely leased out, according to Richard LeFrak, vice president of the Lefrak Organization, with a tenant roster that includes U.S. Trust and Cigna. The building is 537,318 square feet and soars 14 stories into the Hudson waterfront sky. “They’re going to put a big sign on this building so New York can see this,” LeFrak announced. The pair of buildings are only two addresses in Newport, a virtual city within Jersey City created and constructed by the Lefrak Organization. Much of the morning’s messages were of thanks to the builder and of looking into the future of the city and the county. “We still have much to go,” Menendez said. “We’re not letting Sam LeFrak off easy.” Menendez said that Jersey City is the fastest growing business community in the United States. LeFrak told the 100 contractors and development executives in attendance that Newport had been a dilapidated train compound. Black and white pictures of the defunct tracks and rail sheds sat behind the developer next to recent color photos taken from the air above Newport. LeFrak thanked the 120 contractors that assisted in the construction of the building and “the million personalities” that had a hand in its development. “Build what they want with quality at price they can afford, and they will come,” LeFrak said. Brian Dougherty, a lawyer for the Lefrak Organization, said that without the relationship the company has with the city of Jersey City, none of Newport would have been possible. He said that the company has been able to go through the city planning office, to before the Planning Board and on to the City Council for approval on assorted projects in “record time.” Many of the buildings in Newport have been financed completely by Lefrak and through a complicated tax abatement system that gradually increases the taxes on buildings as the years go on. Dr. Sam LeFrak, chairman of the Lefrak Organization, said that his company at one time paid $1 million in taxes to the city, as compared to over $20 million this year. What’s Wall Street? Mayor Schundler, who has been applauded by LeFrak for making Jersey City a warm host to the current real estate boom, said that without LeFrak’s risking his own money, none of what they were admiring out the glistening front windows of the Paine Webber Building’s lobby would have been possible. Schundler said that with over 85-percent of the total Nasdaq trading happening in Jersey City, there is clearly an exodus taking place with major companies and services heading out of Manhattan and into newer, bigger and cheaper space across the Hudson River. “I’m a history buff,” Schundler said, “so I like to go to Wall Street, to see where things used to be. I also like to go down Washington Boulevard, where things are going to be. There is so much going on here (in Jersey City) it’s hard to describe it.” Schundler also pointed to the balance now taking shape on both sides of the Hudson, with two separate skylines reaching into the clouds. Because of a new economy in which the international market is being reshaped and the changes are very recent, the best is yet to come to Jersey City, he said. “Our best days are ahead of us,” Schundler said. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” LeFrak said that in 1800, Alexander Hamilton predicted that one day a great city would rise on the west bank of the Hudson River.
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