Realogy's Move to Madison Cheered at Ribbon-Cutting

The opening of Realogy Holdings Corp.'s new international headquarters in Madison was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting Thursday morning with Gov. Chris Christie in attendance.

Realogy, the parent company of Century 21, ERA, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby's International Realty and other real estate business units, recently finished moving 950 employees from its previous headquarters in Parsippany to the new office on Park Avenue.

Realogy CEO Richard A. Smith credited the governor's administration with working with the company after Realogy started considering out-of-state locations in 2008.

Realogy received an EDA grant to stay in state, and ultimately signed a 17-year lease for the office in Madison.

The governor said in his remarks Thursday, given before hundreds of Realogy employees, his administration's willingness to partner with the private sector was a major factor in Realogy "deciding to stay and invest here in Morris County, my home county, and in New Jersey."

"When we have great companies like Realogy decide to stay here and grow and expand in New Jersey, it expands opportunities for our families," he said. "It expands opportunities for other businesses that ripple out from that."

The jobs that stayed in New Jersey "are 950 families that have a good-paying job" to help pay their mortgages, put food on the table, and save for their kids' educations, he said.

"And to have the kind of quality of life that they really want, including, I hope this summer, going to the Jersey shore because it is reopened," Christie said.

Jon Hanson, the founder and chairman of Hampshire Real Estate Companies, which developed the former Verizon property, said when he first saw the call center "it looked like a bunker to me." They stripped the building down to the steel and then added onto it, he said.

"What you see is 21st Century, state-of-the-art," Hanson said.

Smith said Realogy is proud of the "magnificent" new building and to be part of the Madison community.

"We are proud to call this building our home and we are equally proud to call the community of Madison our home," he said.

Smith said the building was "designed to be sensitive to the neighborhood and surrounding community" and described it is contemporary, innovative, elegant, strong, clear and transparent—attributes he said the building shares with the company using it.

Mayor Bob Conley in his remarks touted Madison's downtown as the most beautiful in New Jersey, and said he had talked with Realogy employees about restaurants to try.

He said Realogy quickly established itself as part of the community, supporting local charities, providing space for the Rotary Family Festival fundraiser for Union Beach over the weekend, and being involved with the Madison Executive Council's leadership program.