A rendering of the newly rebranded Liberty Innovation Centre at 95 Greene St. in Jersey City — Courtesy: SJP Properties
By Joshua Burd
SJP Properties has rebranded an office building in downtown Jersey City with an eye toward emerging and specialized industries, tapping JLL as the property’s leasing agent.
The developer announced Monday that 95 Greene St., a 350,000-square-foot building, would now be known as the Liberty Innovation Centre. SJP executives and JLL brokers are now spearheading a marketing campaign focused on attracting tenants in the life sciences, health care and technology sectors.
“Liberty Innovation Centre’s existing base-building infrastructure and waterfront location makes it the ideal solution for life sciences and technology companies seeking commercial space in the supply-constrained New York metropolitan area,” said Steven J. Pozycki, CEO of SJP Properties. “Despite considerable pent-up demand among these users, very few existing buildings in this market can accommodate tenants with lab components or robust power requirements, let alone those that can also provide immediate access to a highly skilled workforce and Manhattan via multiple mass transit options.”
The JLL team includes Daniel Loughlin, John Cunningham, Blake Goodman and John Cahill, according to a news release. They will work closely with SJP Properties Executive Vice President Peter Bronsnick and Senior Vice President Zachary Freeman to execute the property’s leasing and marketing.
“SJP Properties had the vision to convert 95 Greene Street, a former Colgate manufacturing plant, into a modern office building,” Loughlin said. “The owner is pursuing the adaptive reuse of the building’s legacy infrastructure and design to accommodate the emerging and specialty facility needs of the life science, health care and technology sectors.
“Most traditional office buildings are not designed for these specific needs or would require significant investment and time to adapt to these unique industries.”
The rebrand comes nearly 20 years after SJP and PGIM Real Estate acquired the eight-story building, which originally served as a primary manufacturing facility for Colgate Palmolive. The partnership converted it into a Class A office building that was occupied by Merrill Lynch for many years.
Sitting at the intersection of Greene and York streets and in the heart of Jersey City’s Paulus Hook neighborhood, the property offers a short walk to Exchange Place and the NY Waterway ferry stop.
“This great, new opportunity at Liberty Innovation Centre offers R&D, life sciences and technology tenants in the New York metropolitan area tremendous access to the urban labor pool,” Cahill said. “The building is also just steps from PATH and NJ TRANSIT Light Rail service, offering the opportunity to connect with major hospitals and medical schools in Manhattan.”
JLL also touted the Liberty Innovation Centre’s existing infrastructure that it said will appeal to life sciences, health care and technology organizations, including robust HVAC capacity, utilities, backup power and floor loads. The building also offers high ceilings, loading docks and on-site parking, they said, offering modern space more economically than other locations in the region.
