For more than a year, rivals at The Record of Hackensack, N.J., and The Star-Ledger of Newark have shared a statehouse bureau in Trenton.

But things are apparently not all bliss for this consolidated union. Recently, the Record staff relocated from the shared digs outside of the capitol building to a new location inside the statehouse.

“It was very cramped in there. People were complaining about being jammed in,” said Star-Ledger Publisher Richard Vezza, who said his staff remains in the same place. “There was friction between members of the staffs.”

From the day in February 2009 when the joint bureau was announced, several staffers at both papers were not happy about it. Still, they forged ahead.

Vezza said the split squad does not mean the two papers will change their year-old deal to share coverage and swap stories.

“We are keeping our arrangement to share news and not duplicate coverage,” Vezza said. “It is an effort to get the maximum out of our resources.”

Record editors did not return requests for comment.

Star-Ledger Editor Kevin Whitmer added: “We are still sharing stories and that is a good thing.”