JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, is expanding its San Francisco headquarters and donating $3.8 million to help revitalize the city’s struggling downtown financial district.
The bank said it will lease another 65,000 square feet at 560 Mission St., the 31-story building known as the JP Morgan Chase Building, where it has occupied space for more than 20 years, bringing its total occupancy there to 280,000 square feet, with space for some 1,600 employees. The news had already circulated back in January that the company was close to a deal to consolidate workers returning to work at the office full-time. The bank called employees back to a five-day in-person work schedule beginning in March.
On Monday, JPMorgan framed that news as part of a “doubling down on its commitment to San Francisco by expanding and renovating its local offices at 560 Mission Street and One Front Street,” a 38-story office tower in the Financial District that was previously the headquarters of First Republic Bank. The bank said it plans to “maintain” some 125,000 square feet there while investing in renovations at both locations to turn its San Francisco offices into “modern, state-of-the-art workplaces” with features such as a coffee bar and pantry area, a fitness center with a yoga studio and prayer and maternity rooms.
JPMorgan increased its presence in the city when it acquired First Republic bank following its collapse in 2023. But as part of a broader move to shrink its portfolio following the COVID-19 pandemic, JPMorgan gave back about a quarter of the 460,726 square feet First Republic had previously occupied as that building’s largest tenant, deepening lingering doubts at the time about the firm's long-term commitment to the downtown space. The approximately 125,000 square feet the bank touted in its press release Monday represents a significant reduction from the more than 300,000 square feet it previously leased there.
San Francisco continues to register one of the nation's highest office vacancy rates in the post-pandemic era, and officials have struggled to come up with effective ways to reinvent the city’s downtown by filling or repurposing empty office space and storefronts and bringing back foot traffic.
JP Morgan said it employs nearly 7,000 people throughout the Bay Area and plans to help “revitalize the city’s core by attracting top talent and boosting the local economy.” Its office renovations could create 500 construction jobs, according to the bank.
“San Francisco is a key growth market for JPMorganChase and we have been hard at work with local leaders, partners, and clients to understand how we can best deploy our resources and expertise to power continued economic growth across the city,” said Tim Berry, the bank’s global head of corporate responsibility.
'On the rise'
The $3.8 million in philanthropic support will go to boosting San Francisco’s downtown economy by supporting small business growth by providing them with loan capital and technical assistance, helping them establish tenancy in vacant storefronts, and reducing costs for them to open and expand, according to JPMorgan, which listed an array of local organizations and initiatives it’s supporting that aim to help bring people back to downtown San Francisco.
JPMorganChase is an executive member of AdvanceSF, an advocacy organization representing large employers that aim to make the city more business-friendly. The bank is also a founding member of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Partnership for SF, a dues-paying group with a similar goal that is chaired by billionaire philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and Ruth Porat of Google. “Both initiatives are rooted in promoting San Francisco as a world class destination with a growing economy where businesses, innovation and communities thrive,” said the bank in Monday’s press release.
Last year, JPMorgan opened what it described as a flagship financial center at 111 Pine St. in San Francisco “as part of its commitment to expand its affluent banking offering” following its acquisition of First Republic. The financial centers aim to deliver “a high-touch financial experience,” and six more of them are slated to open throughout the Bay Area by the end of the year and more in 2026.
The bank also committed to bringing back its annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, the country’s largest healthcare investment conference, with takes place in January at the Westin St. Francis hotel on Union Square, the city’s premier retail shopping district, which has been hit particularly hard by the departure of retailers in recent years as the area became a symbol of urban decline.
Last year, some local media outlets noted that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon took a swipe at San Francisco during a television interview, remarking that the city was “in far worse shape than New York.”
The JPMorgan-sponsored annual conference is a crucial event for the city, bringing much needed business to hotels and restaurants by convening more than 8,000 investors, industry professionals and senior government officials, as well as 550 global health care companies, according to conference organizers. The bank said it generated nearly $104 million in economic growth for the city in 2025.
Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement that this was “the kind of partnership San Francisco needs.” Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, was elected in November on a business-friendly platform promising economic renewal.
“The message is getting out, and San Francisco is on the rise,” he said.