300 JOBS MOVING TO COUNTY

Monday, January 12, 2009
CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Wall Street West will be absorbing several hundred jobs in March from across the Hudson River as Arch Insurance Group Inc. relocates two-thirds of its corporate headquarters' staff to Harborside in Jersey City.

Arch Insurance Group Inc., which has signed a 15-year lease for 100,000 square feet of office space at the Harborside Financial Center, Plaza 3, is fulfilling plans announced last summer to move some 300 jobs from its corporate offices at 1 Liberty Plaza in New York City.

The jobs include corporate executives in accounts, claims and information technology.

"There have been a number of companies before us who have made good, sound educated decisions to move support operations across the Hudson River," said Mark D. Lyons, chairman and CEO of the Arch Worldwide Insurance Group. "This is one step of many that will continue the existing financial strength of our company."

The move became a "pretty easy decision" after considering the lower rent and "impressive" package of economic incentives, including state and local government grants and tax breaks, Lyons said.

"Class A" office space that rents for the mid-$30 per square foot in Jersey City rents for $60 per square foot in Manhattan, said Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Antonicello.

"More and more companies are looking at the bottom line," Antonicello said. "They are looking at New Jersey. Our waterfront has long been a great location for companies, but today it is becoming an exceptional location."

Arch Insurance will also receive a state grant equivalent to about $9.6 million over the first 10 years of their lease.

Arch Insurance Group, a division of Arch Capital Group Ltd., provides insurance for corporations, professional firms and financial institutions in North America.

"Jersey City continues to be extremely competitive in relation to Manhattan due to our overall operating costs, our skilled work force and our comprehensive mass transportation system," Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy said.

Arch Insurance moving offices to Jersey City waterfront

by Charles Hack
The Jersey Journal
Thursday January 08, 2009

A New York City-based insurance company announced it will be relocating its executive offices to the Jersey City waterfront, an online business trade journal is reporting today.

Arch Insurance Group Inc. announced it will bring 300 new jobs to Wall Street West from its corporate offices at 1 Liberty Plaza, New York City, moving executives and support divisions to 100,000 square feet of office space at the Harborside Financial Center, Plaza 3 on the waterfront here, the expansionmanagement.com reports.

It is unclear how many new jobs will be created by the relocation. Caren S. Franzini, CEO of the state's Economic Development Authority (EDA) is quoted as saying the location means "hundreds of new, high-paying jobs in a targeted industry sector for New Jersey."

Arch Insurance Group, a division of Arch Capital Group Ltd., provides insurance for corporations, professional firms and financial institutions North America.

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/