Rendering: dbox / Foster + Partners
JPMorgan Chase on Thursday unveiled the design for its massive new global headquarters in Midtown East, set to become one of New York City’s tallest buildings. Roughly three years after the project was approved by the city and a year after construction began, fresh renderings show off the Foster + Partners-designed tower at 270 Park Avenue, which will soar nearly 1,400 feet and be all-electric. The building, which will house up to 14,000 employees, boasts a unique “fan-column” structure that is lifted about 80 feet above street level as well as a new public plaza on Madison Avenue.
“270 Park Avenue is set to be a new landmark that responds to its historic location as well as the legacy of JPMorgan Chase in New York,” Norman Foster, the founder of Foster + Partners, said in a statement.
“The unique design rises to the challenge of respecting the rhythm and distinctive streetscape of Park Avenue, while accommodating the vital transport infrastructure of the city below. The result is an elegant solution where the architecture is the structure, and the structure is the architecture, embracing a new vision that will serve JPMorgan Chase now and well into the future.”
Construction of the new headquarters required the demolition of the investment bank’s existing 700-foot-tall office tower, known as the Union Carbide Building and which was designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois in 1961. When the project was announced in 2018, preservationists opposed razing the building as it was designed by de Blois, one of the few female senior designers at the time, as 6sqft reported. The building’s demolition, one of the largest to ever be intentionally demolished, wrapped up last June.
dbox/ Foster + Partners
dbox/ Foster + Partners
The old 52-floor headquarters could house 3,500 employees. The new tower will hold up to 14,000 workers and offer more than double the amount of outdoor space on the ground level of Park and Madison Avenues, according to a press release.
Sustainability drove the design of 270 Park, which will be New York City’s largest all-electric skyscraper and be 100 percent powered by renewable energy sourced from a New York hydroelectric plant. It won’t be the last. The city last year banned the use of natural gas in new buildings under seven stories tall starting in 2023 and in structures over seven stories in the middle of 2027.
The net-zero building will also implement advanced water storage, triple-pane glazing and solar shades, and new technology to predict and adapt to energy needs. The project “recycled, reused, or upcycled” 97 percent of building materials from the demolition, according to the architects.
To meet the needs of today’s office employees, the JPMorgan Chase HQ will have more communal spaces, a health and wellness center with yoga, cycling, medical services, and meditation spaces, and lots of natural plants and daylight throughout. Plus, the building will have a large food hall and a conference center at the top of the 60-story tower.
“With our new headquarters, JPMorgan Chase is making a long-term investment in our business and New York City’s future while ensuring that we operate in a highly efficient and world-class environment for the 21st century,” Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said. “We are extremely excited about the building’s state-of-the-art technology, health and wellness amenities, and public spaces, among many other features. It is in the best location in one of the world’s greatest cities.”
Rendering:Foster + Partners
270 Park falls under the 2017 Midtown East rezoning. As 6sqft previously reported, the tower’s supertall status comes from 700,000 square feet of unused development rights purchased from nearby landmarked properties, as the rezoning allows. JP Morgan acquired 680,000 square feet of air rights from Grand Central and another 50,000 square feet from St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. Proceeds from the air rights will then be used to finance the city’s public space improvements in Midtown.
The JPMorgan Chase building joins other major commercial projects that have opened or are under construction in the neighborhood, including One Vanderbilt, which opened last September. Late last year, the City Council approved the 175 Park Avenue project, which will replace the Grand Hyatt Hotel with a 2.1-million-square-foot, 1,575-foot-tall building developed by TF Cornerstone and RXR Realty.
POSTED ON THU, APRIL 14, 2022BY DEVIN GANNON
Renderings: dbox / Foster + Partners