Mack-Cali Realty Corp. recently unveiled renovations of its signature 422,590-square-foot Harborside 1 building in Jersey City, as depicted in this rendering. — Courtesy: Mack-Cali
By Joshua Burd
Amazon has reportedly scrapped a plan to take some 400,000 square feet of office space at Mack-Cali Realty Corp.’s renovated Harborside campus in Jersey City.
According to Bloomberg, the technology giant backed out of lease negotiations with the real estate investment trust after being close to a deal for space at Harborside 1, as the publication reported early this month. The report cited people familiar with the matter, although Mack-Cali declined to comment and Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The long-rumored deal would have marked a major victory for the REIT and for the Hudson waterfront submarket, which has grappled with large blocks of vacant space since before the pandemic. And it would follow a sweeping physical overhaul of Harborside 1, located at Hudson Street and Christopher Columbus Drive, which came as part of a larger multimillion-dollar upgrade of the 4.3 million-square-foot office complex.
Bloomberg also described the deal as a major setback for Mack-Cali, which has doubled down on the Jersey City office market in recent years while aggressively shedding its suburban commercial properties. The REIT, under pressure from Wall Street in recent years, has also focused on expanding its luxury multifamily portfolio through its Roseland Residential Trust subsidiary.
Amazon has been expanding in the New York area despite the collapse of its plan to build a second headquarters in Queens in 2019, Bloomberg reported. The Seattle-based company in December 2019 signed a 335,000-square-foot lease for office space near Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, some four months before it bought the Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue from WeWork for $1.15 billion.
