"The parking garage has already been completed, and the 15-story building's foundations are in the ground," says J. Thomas Glerum, a senior director in C&W's East Rutherford, NJ office. Glerum, along with John Cefaly and Gus Field of C&W's Downtown Manhattan office, and Robert Constable and Larry Tannenbaum of the company's Midtown Manhattan office are handling the assignment.

"As a result," Glerum continues, "construction time for Journal Square Plaza III will be much quicker than a raw site. Space can be ready for tenant fit-up with 12 months of lease execution."

The building, which has views of Lower Manhattan and the surrounding region, is the latest addition to a downtown Jersey City office development owned by Hartz. Journal Square Plaza I was completed by Hartz in 1984 and currently maintains 100% occupancy. Journal Square Plaza II is similarly fully leased, with ADP as the anchor tenant. Other neighboring tenants include the Port Authority of NY/NJ and Maher Terminals.

Journal Square, for which the city recently completed a $7.5 million revitalization project, is the original hub of this city's business community, although some of the market's thunder has been stolen in recent years with the emergence of the city's waterfront as a business destination.

The Square remains a transportation hub of the city, with an estimated 30,000 people passing through its pedestrian plaza every day. The major transportation mode is the PATH light rail line, which links Journal Square with other parts of the city, as well as with Newark, Hoboken and Midtown Manhattan. PATH was a key link between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan prior to 9/11 when the station, directly below the World Trade Center, was destroyed. A temporary station is under construction to restore the link.

"The building provides a combination of new class A office space and extremely competitive rental rates," according to Cefaly. "Its 29,000- to 38,500-sf floor plates start at $29 per sf, a bargain compared to the class A rents currently offered in Manhattan and elsewhere on the Hudson waterfront."