JPMorgan Chase To Build New Midtown Headquarters

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Banking giant JPMorgan Chase announced plans to build a new 2.5 million-square-foot headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. The new building will replace the corporation's current headquarters at 270 Park Avenue and be one of the first major projects allowed by a recently-passed city rezoning of the East Midtown neighborhood.

The East Midtown rezoning allows JPMorgan Chase to buy up the air rights from nearby sites and use them to build a massive tower capable of housing 15,000 employees. Mayor Bill de Blasio hailed the project as a win for the city and for East Midtown.

"This is our plan for East Midtown in action. Good jobs, modern buildings and concrete investments that will make East Midtown stronger for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who work here," de Blasio said in a statement. "We look forward to working with JPMorgan Chase as it doubles-down on New York as its international home."

The city rezoning stipulates that in exchanges of air rights, the sellers must pay the city $61.49 per square foot in order to fund improvements to East Midtown's public spaces, transit and infrastructure. City officials predict the rezoning plan will generate 6.8 million square feet in new commercial office space over the next 20 years and that an additional 6.6 million square feet of existing office space will be upgraded into Class A office space.

Construction work on the new headquarters is expected to begin in 2019, city officials said in a press release. The work is expected to take five years and will generate 8,000 construction-related jobs, officials said. People who work at 270 Park Avenue, located between East 47th and 48th streets, will be moved to a nearby office during the construction.

JPMorgan Chase's new office tower assures that the company — one of the city's largest private employers — will not be leaving New York City any time soon, city officials said.

"It was barely six months ago that we secured the East Midtown rezoning into law, and building owners are already responding in a major way," Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen. said in a statement. "This is a true win-win-win. The City of New York retains a major company and its employment base, the surrounding community sees improvements in its public spaces, and JPMorgan Chase will have a new headquarters that helps the firm compete for decades to come."

The East Midtown rezoning area spans 78 blocks from the east side of Third Avenue to west side of Madison Avenue between East 39th to 57th streets.

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