Mack-Cali Breaks Ground on Harborside 10

So yesterday's groundbreaking for Harborside 10 should have been a happy event. Instead, ground was broken and lunch was served against a backdrop of rumors that the sublet trend had spread from Manhattan to Jersey City. Specifically, one published report had Schwab preparing to unload half of its commitment at Harborside 10 to anyone willing to sublease the space.

Realistically, the Jersey City office market, now the country's 11th largest, has a vacancy rate of a scant 0.41%, so the space shouldn't be too tough to unload. But the platitudes offered at the ground-breaking lost some luster given the rumors. Mack-Cali spokesperson Virginia Sobel told reporters that "we haven't been notified of any sublease plans." A subsequent call to Mack-Cali was not returned.

And Schwab spokesperson Dan Hubbard would tell reporters only that "we expect to occupy a majority of the building. We're continuing to weigh our options on the space in the short term." Unconfirmed reports had Schwab talking to financial firms already on the Jersey City scene about taking the extra space off its hands.

"We're thrilled to have such a high-caliber tenant as Charles Schwab providing a strong commitment to Jersey City and to Harborside," Mack-Cali CEO Mitchell Hersh noted at the ceremony yesterday. "Harborside continues to attract a who's who of financial services tenants."

But with the apparent re-thinking by Schwab of its total commitment, there are many questions about who that "who" might be for Harborside 10.