Neither Mack-Cali nor SunAmerica, nor their brokers, Insignia/ESG and CB Richard Ellis respectively, will comment on the deal. But a source with knowledge of the transaction confirmed to GlobeSt.com that SunAmerica, whose parent company is the American International Group, will occupy two floors at the 34-story Plaza Five building.
Currently under construction, Plaza Five is expected to be ready for occupancy within 18 months. The larger complex currently has four buildings completed and occupied, adding up to more than two million sf. Two more office towers are under construction, and at build-out Harborside Financial Center is expected to contain as many as 10 office buildings, residential development and a hotel property.
SunAmerica, which will move as many as 300 jobs across the Hudson River, opted for Harborside over Midtown Manhattan's 1466 Broadway. Located in Times Square, 1466 Broadway is a project of SL Green. Lower occupancy costs and New Jersey and Jersey City's tax incentives apparently sealed the deal, according to the source.
Mack-Cali began building the first phase of Harborside Financial Center back in the late 1990s, specifically targeting Wall Street firms for its tenant base. The Harborside project and Manhattan's Wall Street district, of course, are directly across the Hudson River from each other.
When the deal does become official, SunAmerica will join the steady stream of Wall Street-related firms that have eschewed Manhattan's cachet for the realities of lower operating costs in Jersey City. In the asset management category alone, such big time players as Goldman Sachs and Lord Abbett are calling Jersey City home. The latter recently left the GM Building, now owned by Donald Trump, where top-floor rents have cracked the $100 per sf mark, for a new building on Jersey City's Exchange Place.
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