JPMorgan Chase opens $3 billion NYC headquarters, reshaping the city’s skyline

JPMorgan Chase unveiled its new 60-story headquarters to the public on Monday, one of the first major office buildings to be constructed after the COVID-19 pandemic and one that will remake the New York City skyline for decades.

The bronze and steel tower at 270 Park, which reportedly cost $3 billion, replaced the Union Carbide Building, which sat on a full city block at 48th Street and Park Avenue for nearly 60 years. JPMorgan expects to house roughly 10,000 of its 24,000 New York-based employees in the new building, with employees starting their first workday at the tower at the same time as the company holds its ribbon cutting ceremony.

“For 225 years, JPMorgan Chase has always been deeply rooted in New York City. The opening of our new global headquarters is not only a significant investment in New York, but also testament to our commitment to our clients and employees worldwide,” said Jamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan, in a statement.

The building contains 2.5 million square feet and a block’s worth of public space. The bank also commissioned five new artworks for the building, adding to the bank’s already substantial art collection. The bank will house its trading operations in the building across eight floors.

At 1,388 feet, the new building is taller than the Empire State Building’s roofline and is now the fourth-largest building in Manhattan.

The building was a major engineering and architectural undertaking by Norman Foster, the building’s lead architect and Tishman Speyer. Engineers had to systematically demolish the old Union Carbide building over a period of two years — the site sits above the rails of the Metro North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road that run underneath Park Avenue.

For years, JPMorgan has worked out of several buildings around Grand Central Station, a result of the bank’s growth and acquisitions over the years. Corporate execs and investment bankers still use 383 Madison Ave, the former headquarters of Bear Stearns, and 277 Park, which housed Chemical Bank, also a predecessor of the current JPMorgan Chase. Parts of JPMorgan started using 270 Park in the mid-1990s, but the bank always struggled to fit all its operations in the building. With 270 Park finished, the bank says it will now start a renovation of 383 Madison.

The completion of 270 Park is a major accomplishment for Dimon, who has been one of loudest voices about the need for employees to report to an office for work. The building was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic and was completed after the pandemic, when remote work became more common.

—Ken Sweet, AP business writer