Harborside Financial Center, Plaza 5

Development Team

Owner/Developer: Mack-Cali Realty Corp., Cranford, N.J.
Construction Manager: Jeffrey M. Brown Associates, Inc., Jersey City, N.J.
Architect: GRAD Associates, Newark, N.J.
Structural Engineers: Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers, NYC
MEP Engineers: Jaros Baum & Bolles, NYC
Site, Civil and Geotechnical Engineers: Langan Engineering & Environmental
Services, Inc., Elmwood Park, N.J.
Accoustical Engineers: Cerami & Associates, NYC
Curtain Wall Consultant: Gordon H. Smith Corp.,
NYC Sitework: Interstate Industrial Corp., Clifton, N.J.
Masonry Contractor: Benfatto Construction, Lodi, N.J.
Steel Contractor: Helmark Steel Inc., Wilmington, Del.
Miscellaneous Metal Contractor: Papp Iron Works, Plainfield, N.J.
Glass Contractor: W&W Glass Systems Inc., Nanuet, N.Y.
Plumbing Contractor: F&G Mechnanical Corp., Secaucus, N.J.
Electrical Contractor: Seimens Building Technologies, Pine Brook, N.J.
HVAC Contractor: KSW Mechanical Services Inc., Long Island City, N.Y.

While Manhattan-based developers continue to grouse about it, office towers continue to sprout across the Hudson River in Jersey City.

No wonder. In addition to lower rents, the state and city governments offer some seductive incentives to developers, owners and tenants.

New Jersey's long-term tax-abatement plan fixes real estate taxes for up to 20 years. Jersey City's Urban Enterprise Zone allows the city to grant sales-tax exemptions on qualified corporate equipment and supply purchases, as opposed to 6 percent sales tax in the rest of Jersey and an 8.25 percent sales tax in New York City.

In addition, there is no commercial rent tax (it's 6 percent in New York City), the Jersey state income tax is lower than in New York and there is no city corporate tax.
At the center of the development boom in Jersey City is Mack-Cali Realty Corp.'s waterfront Harborside Financial Center, a complex of 1.9 million sq. ft. of Class A office space that the company has been continuing to build out since 1996.

The latest, and largest, addition to the campus is Plaza 5, a $275 million, 34-story, 980,000-sq.-ft. office tower, completed last year along with the smaller Plaza 10. It began construction in mid-2000 and was completed in mid-2002.

Designed by GRAD Associates PA of Newark, N.J., the new building's base floors have floor plates of between 78,000 and 87,000 sq. ft. with 15.5-ft. ceiling heights, while its tower floors have plates of 36,000 sq. ft. and ceiling heights of 13.5 ft. Plaza 5 also features a 1,270-car parking garage.

Structural engineers from the Thornton-Tomasetti Group Inc. report that they designed Plaza 5 for lower wind loads than those called for by Building Officials and Code Administrators International Inc. Their estimated wind loads were later confirmed by wind tunnel test results.
This reduced wind load allowed the lateral stiffness of the building to be reduced and resulted in significant savings to Mack-Cali in terms of structural costs. The exposed belt truss at the roof level adds a distinctive look to the building while providing lateral stiffness to the structural system.