Within a 12-month timeframe, the company relocated employees from its suburban locations in Upper Saddle River, NJ and White Plains, NY to 330 Hudson St. in Midtown South’s trendy Hudson Square neighborhood and downtown Hoboken. Through city and state tax incentive programs, Pearson received $4.5 million in Business Incentive Rate energy savings from the New York City Economic Development Corp. and $9 million in Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits from Empire State Development. On the Jersey side, Pearson received $84 million in state tax credits to relocate 700 employees to Hoboken.

“We found that both were attractive financially,” Berzine said. “There’s no secret that New Jersey is less expensive, but New Jersey is very aggressive and spectacular in its Urban Hub Tax Credit program. You can have class A real estate on the waterfront, new build, technologically superior buildings at a very modest cost. There was a point in time where we thought everyone was coming into Manhattan. There was point in time where we thought everyone was going to Jersey. We ended up bifurcating it.”

Financial services giant Goldman Sachs has also taken a similar real estate approach. With locations at 30 Hudson St. in Jersey City and 200 West St. inside the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan, Gagandeep Singh, vice president of corporate real estate at Goldman Sachs, said the company focuses on two overriding factors in its site selection process: business and operational need, and the “resiliency” of the real estate itself.

“That drives us to make our decisions,” Singh said, noting that both locations provide easy access for commuters. “I live in Brooklyn and commute to New Jersey. That’s just the way it is – it is the nature of life in our region. Our firm does not like to say New York versus New Jersey or New Jersey versus New York,” describing the connection between the two states as a “symbiotic, mutual relationship” to do business in. “We are active in both communities.”

Stephen Franklin, manager of real estate services for Ernst & Young International, has pinpointed Midtown Manhattan and Central New Jersey as core markets. In its location process, Franklin said the company evaluates where its employees live and where clients are. E&Y has locations at 5 Times Square and at 99 Wood Ave. South in Metropark. “We are driven by occupancy costs and we try to keep them under control,” he said. “Cost is a major factor. We look for class A buildings, we look for green buildings.”

At the same time, Franklin said workplace standards are evolving given the rise of telecommuting and other digital technology. “We’ve moved non-essential, non-revenue producers outside of Manhattan and have them work wherever they can,” he said, in cutting down operating expenses, a major concern for all panelists involved.

In assessing the advantages and disadvantages of high cost-premiums in both states, Seth Pinsky, president of NYCEDC, said the nonprofit works on area-wide redevelopment projects and develops strategic programs for the city to attract and retain industry. With a capital budget of $2.5 billion, the NYCEDC promotes its access to customers, transportation, cultural institutions and workforce to attract businesses to the five boroughs.

Pinsky calls the approach “tactical” rather than strategic. “While it is very important for economic development officials to look at specific companies and their needs, the fact is that we have limited resources, the state of New Jersey has limited resources and everyone has limited resources,” he said. “And even if we 100% successful in retaining the businesses that come to us requesting assistance, it would be a drop in the bucket relative to the overall size of the economy. It is a good deal if we can attract a few hundred jobs to New York City, but it is great deal if we can attract a few thousand jobs to New York City.”

What moves the needle, he said, is creating the best work conditions. “Because ultimately, the reason businesses are paying a premium to come to New York is because this is where they can find the most productive workforce and most skilled workforce in the world,” Pinsky said. “As long as we are we are continuing to attract those people here and those people want to be in New York, the businesses will follow them.”

On the other side of the river, Michael Chrobak, chief economic development officer for Princeton-based Choose New Jersey, a quasi-governmental nonprofit that helps encourage and foster economic growth throughout the state, works alongside Gov. Chris Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and other state agencies on real estate strategies. “We know what businesses are looking for in terms of needs and cost, but more importantly we know that strategic alignment with operating activities help revenue growth,” Chrobak said.

The organization also helps businesses finds locations that are “a natural tie” into where the company strategically wants to expand their business, Chrobak added. “It is really to make the process seamless,” he said, noting that ChooseNJ works with state and local organizations on approvals and obtaining incentives.

Through the state’s Economic Development Authority, New Jersey is well-known for its Urban Hub Tax Credit program, which allots financial incentives to nine cities—including Newark, Hoboken, Jersey City, Elizabeth, East Orange, New Brunswick, Paterson, Camden and Trenton—located within a half-mile of New Jersey Transit, PATH or light rail stations. The legislation was recently expanded to include incentive eligibility for neighborhoods directly outside the nine urban cores, as well as medical facilities.

The state also offers the Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP), a grant initiative that provides up to 80% of the total amount of employees' state income taxes withheld by the company during the calendar year from the new employees hired, awarded for up to 10 years, to a maximum of $50,000 per employee over the course of the grant, according to the EDA.

“We look to really utilize our strategic assets and really align them up front in that marketing process, such that we have a clear position that aligns with business interest from a strategic and an operating point-of-view,” Chrobak said. “The role that we play is willing to establish that competitive advantage.”

And while New York and New Jersey will always battle for the biggest and best assets, synergies between the two locations will help the entire region help compete globally against other metropolises like London, Mumbai and Shanghai. “In reality, New York needs New Jersey and New Jersey needs New York,” Pinsky said. “Likewise, I don’t think a lot of businesses would come to Manhattan if you didn’t have access to the very talented workforce that lives and commutes in from New Jersey.”