PSEG Chair and CEO Ralph LaRossa knows the company will have lots of options when it exits its existing space in Newark at the end of its lease in September of 2030: It could lease a new building, buy and renovate a current structure or build a new headquarters of its own.
Only one thing is certain: The company will remain in Newark, where PSEG has been headquartered for more than a century, he said.
“We’re not leaving Newark, that’s who we are,” LaRossa told ROI-NJ. “The question is: Where is the best place to be?
“We’re looking at our property, looking around at others. It’s far enough in advance of the end of our lease that it’s a good time to look.”
The company has been at its current location, a 26-story tower and three-story plaza building at 80 Park Plaza, since 1978. That building is in the heart of Newark’s downtown, helping to anchor an area that has been a key part of the city’s economic resurgence.
LaRossa said the company likes the area, noting one potential new location would be the garage PSEG owns on Mulberry Street.
“That’s one location we’re certainly looking at,” he said.
The move is part of a company-wide workplace transformation in which PSEG will ‘refresh and renovate’ more than two dozen facilities across the state, according to Sheila Rostiac, the company’s chief human resources officer. (see complete story here)
The transformation not only will include the latest and greatest energy efficiency features, but also ensure that facilities are welcoming and inclusive to employees, customers and the surrounding community, Rostiac said.
LaRossa and Rostiac said the new headquarters also will have a smaller footprint: Potentially approximately 500,000 – or much smaller than the approximately 800,000 square feet the company occupies in its current location.
And while Rostiac said the company’s thoughts include to construct their own building, she recognized that idea could change over time – and that there are a lot of options.
“We have been very diligent in assessing a host of prudent scenarios,” she said.
Remaining in Newark is a certainty, Rostiac said. In fact, taking advantage of Newark’s growth of food, entertainment – and housing – options, makes the decision to stay easy. The location on
Mulberry Street, she points out, is near the transformation that’s taking place around the N.J. Performing Arts Center.
“What’s going on in Newark is incredibly exciting,” she said. “To be able to integrate our headquarters with the community, all that it has to offer – from places to go after work to easy access to transportation – is important to us as our workforce evolves.”
Rostiac noted that approximately one-third of the company’s workforce has been with PSEG for less than five years – and another third is closing in on retirement.
“We always have to be thinking about where our future workforce will want to be,” she said. “We think it’s places like Newark.”
