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24 DECEMBER 2021
Angelo Stracquatanio admits it
— at first glance, it “makes no sense” that a technology firm leased 32,000 square feet of office space mid-pandemic, as Apprentice.io did in Jersey City.
But that doesn’t account for the intense growth that his company has
six-fold during that time.
By Joshua Burd
air collaboration zones instead of
“It feels like hybrid is here to stay for quite a while, but the office is alive and well.”
NAIOP’s event took place Nov. 1
at the MC Hotel in Montclair, with Onyx Equities’
Jonathan Schultz
serving as its
moderator. At
the time, Decillis
said “human
occupancy”
at New
Jersey office
buildings was
an estimated 30 to 40 percent, as most employees continue to work remotely. He added that submarkets such as Jersey City, Short Hills and Parsippany have attracted a handful of leases from Manhattan-based companies that want their teams to be in an office, even if it’s not their main location.
“I think that markets typically overreact and I think what we’ve seen over the last year and a half is that the pendulum swung hard in one direction,” Decillis said. “People have made adjustments.”
Apprentice.io, which describes itself as an intelligent software company for life science manufacturing, announced its lease at 101 Hudson St. in early May. Speaking at the NAIOP event, Stracquatanio said the firm was thoughtful about how it designed the space, noting that “no one’s going to be there five days a week typing. But do we have them there two days a week, three days a week, specifically to collaborate — whether it’s big group collaboration, team collaboration or one-on-one collaboration? Absolutely.”
But employees “did not like being in enclosed office areas” amid ongoing health concerns. That translated to a design with a series of “neighborhoods” — essentially, meeting and conference stations of varying sizes that were out in the
MAKING THE CASE
Fast-growing Jersey City tech firm shows need, potential for post-pandemic office space
experienced over the past 18 months, thanks to the role that its software played in manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine. Consequently,
“What we found was that, when you’re going through that much growth, you can’t do it all remotely,” said Stracquatanio, Apprentice.io’s CEO and founder. “Collaboration matters a lot — and we found that, specifically, there are just some things you can’t do over Zoom. You have to be in person, you have to
be collaborating, you have to use a whiteboard.
“I know that sounds obvious, but these very simple tenets that we’ve held for a long time still matter. The difference, though, is that we changed how the office looks, we changed how the office functions.”
Stracquatanio — whose space features a network of flexible, open-
stuffy conference rooms — spoke
in early November during a panel discussion hosted by NAIOP New Jersey. For those on hand, the message was both reassuring and eye-opening — and a reminder of why companies will still need office space going forward.
Exactly how that space will look is still unclear, panelists said, and how tenants use it will likely differ from one industry to the next.
“Every company is very different,” said Brian Decillis, a broker and managing director with Cushman
& Wakefield. “From one end of the spectrum, companies are saying, ‘It’s got to be five days (in the office).’ Some companies are saying, ‘The remote environment works for us.’
Brian Decillis
Angelo Stracquatanio
the venture has raised three rounds of financing since the start of the health crisis, while his team has expanded
Apprentice.io, an intelligent software company for life science manufacturing, recently leased 32,000 square feet in Jersey City to support its rapid expansion during the pandemic.