The first phase of the Waterfront Corporate Office Center on the southern waterfront will be completed in the spring of 2002, developer SJP Properties announced Nov. 28.
By June of next year, tenants should have moved into the first of two 13-story 550,000 square-foot office buildings on River Street, SJP said.
The second phase of the project, which is the second building, has begun with SJP paying for the construction costs with its own money. As of yet, that space has not been leased out.
The Waterfront Corporate Center, the commercial office component of the Hoboken Southern Waterfront development, is a mixed-use development that is the product of a unique public/private partnership between the city, the Port Authority and SJP Properties.
The corporate center joins the recently opened residential building at 333 River St., which is being built by the Applied Companies in partnership with Starwood Heller, LLC. Applied, one of the major players in the area’s luxury apartment market, is now filling its $100 million E-shaped building, which offers 526 studios and one-, two- and three- bedroom units and over 60,000 square feet of street level retail.
Included in the retail space is a new Kings Supermarket. This would be the store’s second location in Hoboken and it is slated to open in January, with a 20-year lease for 14,500 square feet signed with Applied.
Steven J. Pozycki, the Chairman and CEO of SJP, sees the rest of the construction going smoothly.
"Years of careful planning with the city of Hoboken and the Port Authority have produced this cornerstone of the city’s signature waterfront development," said Pozycki. "With its close proximity to both midtown and lower Manhattan, we’re able to lease the entire first phase of the building before construction was complete. We still have a lot of companies talking to us about this space as we commence construction on the second phase on a purely speculative basis."
In August 2000, international publishing giant John Wiley & Sons, Inc. announced a lease agreement with SJP for nearly 400,000 square feet at the Waterfront Corporate Center, which will serve as the company’s global headquarters for over 800 employees.
More recently, Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. USA leased 37,000 square feet of the center. The Japanese-based financial institution will occupy the top floor of the first building and Wiley will fill eight floors, from the second through the ninth. CPR USA, the investment house of a French bank, has also claimed 37,000 square feet.
Open space
In the area of public space, the Port Authority has already contributed more than $80 million by upgrading the surrounding infrastructure, including road improvements the renovation of the five acres of Pier A park, and the completion of the stretch of the riverfront walkway that connects Pier A Park to Sinatra Park, all of which is now complete and open to the public. The new walkway covers the distance of three city blocks.
The Port Authority has also recently secured and allocated funds for the demolition of Pier C and the construction of a five-acre park that will mirror Pier A Park.
Still left to be finished
The final portion of the Southern Waterfront has yet to be approved. Parcel B lies between the office complex area and the residential area. The city is still in negotiations with the Port Authority to determine the height and density of the remaining building.
The original plans called for another 13-story building, but community opposition and a new administration in City Hall have given them reason to rethink the size of the construction at Parcel B. Sources inside the administration said that the when negotiations are complete, that third building will smaller than the other two.
Although the size of the last lot is in question, it is all but assured that there will be a 300-room hotel at that site with some retail stores.
The developer of Parcel B has not yet been announced, but SJP’s spokesman, Tony Cicatiello, said Tuesday that they would actively pursue the opportunity to develop that lot. Sources have said that Applied is trying to win the right to build there as well.