Financial-services firm moving to Jersey City

Originally appeared in the Star Ledger on Wednesday, February 22, 2006

BY MATTHEW FUTTERMAN

Citco Fund Services, a leading investment management company, is leaving Manhattan for Jersey City.

Citco executives announced yesterday they will move as many as 300 employees from their offices on Madison Avenue to Harborside Plaza 10 on the Jersey City waterfront by the end of the year.

"We got an offer for a Grade A building in a great location that is near where all our clients are based," said Jay Peller, managing director for Citco Fund Services. "We'll be moving our back- and middle-office operations there, and some of our technology services. Jersey City is a very good location for us."

The deal continues the growth of the financial industry in Jersey City, which has been holding its own in the battle with downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn for attracting companies looking for relief from skyrocketing rents in Midtown.

In the current buyer's market, the deal is a major coup for American Financial Realty Trust, the Pennsylvania-based real estate investment trust that controls the 70,000 square feet at Harborside Plaza where Citco will move.

"This was a deal for continuous space that we were able to negotiate in 2 1/2 weeks where we could give them one of the best locations on the waterfront," said Michael Weil, vice president of sales at American Financial, which controls 1,100 buildings, totaling roughly 40 million square feet, in the United States.

Citco Fund Services handles the administrative work for more than 1,700 hedge funds. Among its varied services, the company settles trades and sends investors portfolio updates.

Peller said most of Catch's clients in the region are in New York or southern Connecticut. Citco was located across from the World Trade Center until September 2001, then moved to Midtown three months later.

Moving to Jersey City will give the company significant savings on rent. Rents on the Jersey City waterfront are in the $30-to-$35-per-square-foot range, compared with $75 and up in Midtown Manhattan.

"The economics factor into it, but this is the right building in the right location close to the city," Peller said.