Mack-Cali Realty, New Jersey's largest office landlord, announced a joint venture to develop two luxury apartment towers on Jersey City's waterfront. The deal, Mack-Cali's first foray into multifamily properties in a decade, comes on strong demand for rental apartments, especially from young, urban professionals priced out of the Manhattan market.
Mack-Cali, a real-estate investment trust, is teaming up with the Hoboken-based Ironstate Development Co., which built and owns Hoboken's W hotel. The Jersey City development plan calls for two luxury towers with 500 rental units; each tower will have one-bedroom and studio apartments, sizes that appeal to younger renters. The towers will utilize two city blocks of vacant parking lots adjacent to Mack-Cali's Harborside Financial Center office complex spanning roughly 3 million square feet on the waterfront.
Apartment landlords nationwide are seeing rental rates increase and vacancy rates decline. In the third quarter, the vacancy rate in Hudson County—which includes Jersey City—was 5.2%, flat from a year earlier and lower than the 5.6% national rate.
Mack-Cali and Ironstate expect to break ground on the apartment towers in the fourth quarter of 2012.
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