JPMorgan Chase to replace Manhattan headquarters with skyscraper
JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, will tear down its New York headquarters and erect a 70-story tower in its place.
The bank's global headquarters will be the first big project under new zoning rules enacted by the city to spur construction in the area that circles Grand Central Terminal and sets out a path towards maintaining Midtown as one of New York's prime business districts, JPMorgan and Bill de Blasio, the city's mayor, said in a statement Wednesday.
The new building for 15,000 employees will stand as much as 500 feet taller than the company's current headquarters on Park Avenue. The project, which is expected to start construction next year and take five years to finish, will replace an "outdated facility" designed in the late 1950s for roughly 3,500 workers, the company said. More than 8,000 jobs will result from the construction, JPMorgan said.
"We are recommitting ourselves to New York City while also ensuring that we operate in a highly efficient and world-class environment for the 21st century," Jamie Dimon, the bank's CEO, said in the statement.
One of New York's biggest private employers, Chase currently houses about 6,000 employees at the current 52-story building, which it has renovated multiple times. Four years ago, an effort by the bank to construct a two-towered $6.5 billion headquarters on Manhattan's far west side came undone amid disagreements between the city and bank over money issues including tax breaks.
The building that currently stands was built in 1961 and initially home to Union Carbide.
