JP Morgan Chase’s new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue will accommodate 14,000 employees. It is currently under construction.DBOX / Foster + Partners
The shy Park Avenue behemoth – aka the new headquarters of JP Morgan Chase – has finally come out of hiding.
The financial giant on Thursday unveiled the long-secret design of its new 1,388-foot cloudbuster, which it kept under wraps even after construction began two years ago.
The slow-rising giant at 270 Park Avenue at East 49th Street, designed by Foster + Partners, features a series of classically inspired setbacks on the Park and Madison sides, with each setback adorned with a monumental steel diamond.
It will be 500 feet taller than the bank’s old building and will accommodate 14,000 employees, compared to 3,500 in the original.
The full-block skyscraper will also have 2.5 times more outdoor public space at ground level than its predecessor.
Monumental triangular struts, now visible on the site, will raise the actual building 80 feet off the ground and create a visual corridor from the Park Avenue entrance to Madison Avenue.
Completion is scheduled for the end of 2025.
270 Park Avenue DBOX/Care + Partners
The tower’s lobby will be a beehive for workers and others who will congregate in the new, nearly 1,400-foot building.
The tower was constructed by threading the required foundation through Grand Central Terminal, which required approval from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which says having such a large employer near a transportation hub is ideal for New York City .
The project caps bank CEO Jamie Dimon’s long search for a new home in Manhattan, which has been scouring other sites for construction from the Battery to Central Park. The company’s development partner is Tishman Speyer.
Dimon praised the tower’s “state-of-the-art technology, health and wellness facilities and public spaces” in “the prime location in one of the greatest cities in the world.”
The new 270 Park Ave. is the first project to take advantage of East Midtown’s recent rezoning, which allows for much larger structures than before.
JP Morgan Chase’s 1,388-foot tower will make a statement on the New York skyline—shown here with the tower at 270 Park Avenue in the foreground. DBOX / Foster + Partners
In return for a size bonus, JP Morgan Chase contributed approximately $65 million to “public domain” improvements.
These included a large plaza on the Madison Avenue side and a new street entrance to the Grand Central underground passage.
The complex project required threading the foundation through Grand Central Terminal and the new LIRR terminal below.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said, “Bringing thousands of jobs alongside the best of mass transit is key to New York’s future, and this project has been a model public-private partnership.”