JPMorgan Chase is not just building a headquarters in Midtown Manhattan — it’s building a city.
The nation’s largest bank is putting the finishing touches on its 60-story tower at 270 Park Avenue, but Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon’s ambitions stretch across several Midtown blocks, Bloomberg reported.
The Norman Foster–designed skyscraper, which will house about 10,000 employees, is the centerpiece of a JPMorgan campus that includes the neighboring Bear Stearns tower at 383 Madison Avenue and the recently acquired 250 Park Avenue.
The bank’s footprint totals nearly 6 million square feet in the heart of Midtown, rivaling the entire global holdings of some of its Wall Street competitors. More than a show of strength, the $5 billion project reflects Dimon’s push to anchor the firm’s identity — and physical presence — in New York at a time when the city’s economic dominance faces fresh political scrutiny.
Dimon’s influence is all over the area, treating the HQ tower’s design as a personal project, down to the Guinness tap imported for the 13th-floor pub. He divided top lieutenants into teams to oversee specific elements: trading floors under Daniel Pinto and Troy Rohrbaugh; client centers on the top floor under Mary Erdoes and Marianne Lake; and a wellness level — with a gym Dimon reluctantly agreed to — under other executives. The result is a corporate citadel organized like a microcosm of the firm itself.
As construction wrapped, JPMorgan shut down 47th Street for a barbecue celebrating the workers who built the tower. Dimon shmoozed alongside union leaders and told the crowd, “We’re going to be here for a long time — obviously.”
The party doubled as a soft launch for the bank’s broader urban experiment: part office complex, part ecosystem.
Next up, JPMorgan plans a $1 billion overhaul of 383 Madison and is weighing what to do with 250 Park, recently acquired for more than $300 million, where options range from a new office tower to a company-run hotel for visiting employees.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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