Cosi Will Open Second City Eatery

Originally appeared in GlobeSt.com on 03/12/07

By Eric Peterson

JERSEY CITY, NJ-Fast-casual eatery chain Cosi has taken a 4,000-sf space in the ground floor of One Exchange Place, a 10-story office building in the heart of this city’s downtown financial district. The signing marks the Deerfield, IL-based chain’s second store in Jersey City, joining an existing outlet at 535 Washington Blvd. in the city’s Newport section on the waterfront.

The signing was the third in Northern New Jersey orchestrated by brokers from Metro Commercial Real Estate as part of Cosi’s bid to expand in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware markets. Jeff Lagowitz and Tom Butera of Metro Commercial’s Fort Lee, NJ office represented both Cosi and the owner of the building, One Exchange Place Associates, an affiliate of the locally based Mercury Properties. Terms were not released.

“This location for Cosi is situated in a high-traffic area,” Lagowitz says. “The location draw from the nearby PATH light rail station and NJ Transit stop, as well as the downtown workforce.”

Overall, the signing marks the sixth Cosi location in New Jersey, which operates nearly 120 company-owned and franchised restaurants in 16 states. The One Exchange Place building, located at Montgomery and Hudson streets, meanwhile, is a landmark building in this city, dating to 1920.