Page 18 - RE-NJ

16 SUMMER 2022
BOOTS ON THE GROUND
Prologis eyes continued push in New Jersey, New York with a team that has doubled since 2019
The world’s largest industrial real estate owner is keen on expanding its already-vast footprint in and around New Jersey. That’s on full display, ironically, in the company’s recently redesigned office in East Rutherford, where Prologis Inc. has created a sleek, open workspace that aims to be both inviting and inspiring for the team that supports its portfolio in the region.
“If people are coming back to the office we want it to be comfortable,” said Jesse Harty, a senior vice president with Prologis and its market officer for New Jersey and New York. He added that, while it’s most important to be “out in the field with the customer ... the office is a
nice touchpoint where everyone can be collaborative and see each other.”
As the company’s portfolio in
the market expands, so does its workforce. The
San Francisco-
based real estate
investment
trust has grown
to about 65
employees in
New Jersey and
New York after
the addition
of 12 full-time employees and four interns earlier this year, all during a roughly three-month stretch. That’s nearly double its headcount from just three years ago, reflecting the growth of a footprint that now spans
44 million square feet across 200 properties.
The new hires are also helping build what Prologis calls its Essentials platform, which provides additional services to tenants such as helping them source materials for their building fit-outs, in a bid to engage them beyond the lease signing and “beyond the four walls and the real estate.”
“It’s all about getting closer to the customer and being more customer- centric,” Harty said.
Located at One Meadowlands Plaza, the company’s 11,000-square-foot East Rutherford office is the nucleus of its operations in the region. The platform also includes offices in
central and southern New Jersey and in Manhattan and Queens, at John F. Kennedy International Airport, all of which are poised to expand as the REIT grows its reach in those areas.
It’s doing so in a number of ways, some of them requiring a more creative, entrepreneurial approach and additional personnel “to execute on the construction side.” Harty pointed to the growing importance of buying value-add sites that require repositioning, such as a 17-acre Northrop Grumman office campus on Long Island that it purchased
this past spring and now plans to redevelop as 239,000 square feet of logistics space.
“We’re not just buying the triple-net-
By Joshua Burd
Jesse Harty
Prologis Inc. has expanded its office in East Rutherford from 7,000 to 11,000 square feet, with a redesign meant to house its growing team in the region while complementing its company culture and promoting comfort, collaboration and productivity.
Courtesy: Prologis