Jersey City Office Market Tightens

Rising rents in Lower Manhattan has driven Jersey City's office market, 14 million square feet of it, to 90 percent occupancy rate reports the New York Times. The shortage of space in Brooklyn and New Jersey's easier permitting process means Jersey City is likely to see more office towers in the future. The sale earlier this summer of 2 and 30 Montgomery Streets indicated as much, with the buyers promising a "Time Warner Center Like" building to replace the two aging office towers.

In addition, plans for the long awaited Harborside 4 began moving forward at the beginning of the summer. However, that tower may still be several years away with with Mack-Cali President Mitchell Hersh saying "he had no plans to build anything that size until he was able to prelease about 350,000 square feet. “I have been reluctant to build on spec,” he said."

Meanwhile, the upper floors of the existing Goldman Sachs tower finally seem to have life in them, indicating the building is well on its way to full occupancy. One poster on the Wired New York Forums noted the crown and upper floors were lit up this week. Goldman plans a second tower, reportedly by renowned architect I.M. Pei, but will not break ground until the current tower is filled.

City's Dirty Secret Tracked by Map Service

We probably are not the only ones thinking crime in the "safe" neighborhoods of Jersey City is on the rise with the spat of early summer muggings, car break ins, and recent rumors of late night gunshots. Well JerseyCityPortal has finally put together a useful service: a Crime Map that tracks incidents in and around the city. Oh, and just in case the downtown is too "safe" for you, JerseyCityPortal keeps track of shootings elsewhere in the city.