Pacific Group Moves Company Headquarters to Newark

Brick City is going bananas for Pacific Group Holdings Inc.

The fruit importer, known for its Bonita Bananas brand, unveiled its new U.S. corporate headquarters in the city Wednesday afternoon with a ceremonial ribbon cutting by Newark Mayor Cory Booker and other city officials.

The company, which has been selling fruit for more than 60 years, relocated its headquarters from Staten Island, N.Y., to lease 5,000 square feet in the Military Park Building, at 60 Park Place.

"For us, it's a very important company because it's yet another of many companies choosing the city of Newark ... so, this company is very important to me, very personally, because I think it's showing an international company taking up significant office space within our city," said Booker.

The family-owned business operates a plantation in Ecuador, where it gets 100 percent of its fruit, according to Carlos Aguirre, the company's chief executive officer. He said weekly banana shipments come through Brooklyn and then a majority are barged to Port Newark and sold to customers in New Jersey and north of New York City.

Booker said the company's move brought 15 jobs to Newark.

In the past three months, Newarkers have seen other corporate offices take root in the city, including Panasonic and Manischewitz.

The moves come at a time when Newark is wrestling with a roughly 16 percent unemployment rate — a number nearly seven points above the national average.

Despite the high number, Booker has touted possible job opportunities for city residents as a result of the companies' decisions to relocate to Newark.

— Lia Eustachewich