Panasonic North America Unveils New LEED Gold-Designed Headquarters in Newark, NJ

Yesterday, downtown Newark saw its first new office building in over 20 years with the grand opening of <a href="http://www.panasonic.com/us/home/">Panasonic</a>'s state-of-the-art North American headquarters and Innovation Center. NJ Governor Chris Christie joined Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America Joseph M. Taylor, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr., CEO of SJP Properties Steven J. Pozycki and CEO of Matrix Development Group Joseph S. Taylor to cut the ribbon on the new building, which was designed by <a href="http://m.gensler.com/">Gensler</a> to achieve LEED Gold for new construction and LEED Platinum for interiors. Panasonic's hope is that its new green home in New Jersey will reflect its goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 50 percent while also stimulating the local economy with its presence.

“Today is a great day for the people of New Jersey and particularly the people of Newark,” said <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/index.php?s=chris+christie">Governor Christie</a> of the opening of Panasonic's new headquarters. “From our first day in office, one of the top priorities of this Administration has been to create a business-friendly environment in New Jersey by reducing the tax burden on businesses, cutting unnecessary red tape and advancing job-creating economic development projects. I thank Panasonic for their decision to expand and create jobs in the Garden State and congratulate them today at the grand opening of their new, state-of-the-art U.S. headquarters right here in Newark.”

The lobby at Two Riverfront Plaza.

Located at Two Riverfront Plaza, the new 340,000-square-foot, Class A office tower is equipped with <a href="http://inhabitat.com/energetic-energies-panasonic-and-akihisa-hirata-to-unveil-model-solar-powered-cityscape-at-milan-design-week/">Panasonic HIT solar panels</a> that will generate energy for the building as well as <a href="http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=panasonic">Panasonic</a>-developed daylight harvesting controls that will allow occupants to use natural sunlight as opposed to artificial light during the day.

91 percent of regularly occupied spaces in the building have a view of the outside.

70 percent of all waste produced at the building will also be diverted away from landfills and recycled, and since the headquarters is located right near Newark Penn Station, employees are being encouraged to ditch their cars and take public transportation to work whenever they can.

“As we move into this new building that offers increased accessibility to mass transit options and other hubs of business and innovation, we are beginning an exciting chapter at Panasonic,” said Joe Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America. “The development team has delivered a world-class headquarters for our employees that is a true model for environmental responsibility, and is strongly aligned with our company’s longstanding history of leadership in green business practices, both with regard to our corporate operations and the technology solutions we offer our customers. In addition to the sustainability features throughout the new building, we were able to incorporate our brand heritage, creating a unique and dynamic work environment for our employees. ”

The ground floor of Two Riverfront Plaza also boasts Panasonic's new Innovation Center.

The center is a showcase of the company's latest developments from a 3D theater to solar panels to a display of its avionics projects for major airlines.

A display in the center about Fujisawa Smart Town, Panasonic's real-world, eco-village, which is currently being built in Japan.

The center features some pretty interesting technology like a facial recognition system that can detect when a particular customer has returned to a fast food restaurant and anticipate what he or she might order.

Panasonic's CTO Todd Rytting showing journalists one of the Panasonic batteries that powers the Tesla Model S.

The center is the first of its kind to be built outside of Japan.