PSEG is not leaving Newark — but it is leaving the massive, single-building footprint it has called home for decades, splitting its Park Place operations across multiple locations as part of a real estate strategy the company says is driven by cost efficiency and how its workforce actually operates today, company officials told BINJE.
Sheila Rostiac, PSEG’s Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer, said the company has spent the better part of two years evaluating its real estate needs and concluded a single massive building no longer makes sense for the range of work it houses — from a customer walk-in center to district utility operations to headquarters and hybrid office staff.
Rostiac and PSEG were speaking to BINJE in an effort to address rumors that the company was leaving Newark, the city it has been based in for more than 120 years.
“PSEG is not leaving Newark,” Rostiac said. “We’re leaving a large single building leased real estate model.”
PSEG moved into 80 Park Place in the early 1970s; its lease there ends in September 2030.
PSEG has been evaluating its post-2030 plans for some time. This reporter, at a different outlet, first broke the story in the fall of 2024, when the company said it was looking for a new home in Newark.
At the time, the company thought it would be moving its personnel to another large building — either one that existed or one the company would build.
Rostiac said PSEG has explored more than a dozen real estate scenarios, ranging from single-building replacements to the “multi-asset” approach the company has now settled on.
That being said, Rostiac said the company has not yet determined what its square footage or employee count will be in Newark going forward, saying those figures won’t be finalized until the broader real estate process concludes.
And while Rostiac said the company has looked at numerous locations throughout the state that it could potentially use for employees — including locations the company already has — it has not made any definitive decisions.
“I have no official announcement for you,” she said.
The Park Plaza building currently houses five distinct operations: a customer walk-in service center, PSEG’s Newark district operations crew, critical infrastructure operations, headquarters and executive functions and general office space for hybrid workers.
Of those, Rostiac said most functions will remain in Newark in their entirety: the customer service center, district operations, and the company’s front office. What happens to those who come to Park Plaza for general office space has yet to be determined.
To be sure, while Newark has been the company’s home for more than a century, it has long had real estate throughout the state. In fact, Rostiac said the vast majority of the company’s more than 3.5 million square feet of commercial space is located outside of Newark.
Rostiac was clear on this point: the company did not tie the decision to move away from a single large building to remote-work trends accelerated by the pandemic. Rather, she said, the building simply no longer reflects how the company serves customers today.
“This isn’t about COVID,” she said. “It’s from the lens of customer service and affordability.”
Rostiac would not say when a final real estate decision is expected — only that the company is more than two-thirds of the way through its evaluation process. She did say Newark officials have been aware of PSEG’s real estate review from the start, and that the company is working with local stakeholders and community partners.
And Rostiac stressed that PSEG’s commitment to Newark predates 80 Park Plaza by decades and extends well beyond real estate, pointing to the company’s volunteer work and philanthropic giving in the city as part of its broader mission.
“None of those changes from a revision in our real estate model,” she said.
