Banking giant JPMorgan Chase’s new 60-story global headquarters in New York has reached a major construction milestone.
The final steel beam was raised Monday to complete the framing for the tower at 270 Park Ave. between East 47th and 48th streets, JPMorgan, one of New York’s largest employers, said in a statement. The building, expected to open by the end of 2025, is set to house about 14,000 of the firm’s workers.
“This building is a symbol of our long-term investment that will impact future generations of New Yorkers,” JPMorgan Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in the statement, adding the city has been the bank’s home for more than 200 years.
The frame was erected over the past three years using more than 93,600 tons of U.S.-made steel fabricated by Banker Steel, the bank said, adding the building will create more than 8,000 construction jobs and trigger additional economic activity of $2.6 billion for the city during the work period.
The first development to take place under the East Midtown rezoning plan, the bank’s new digs replace what JPMorgan has said was an “outdated facility” designed in the late 1950s for about 3,500 employees.
New York’s Midtown East rezoning plan, approved in 2017, encourages new office construction in about a 78-block area near the Grand Central Terminal transit hub. Developers, in exchange, are meant to fund area transit and pedestrian network improvements, as JPMorgan is doing.
Designed by Foster + Partners, the skyscraper at 270 Park will be entirely powered by a hydroelectric plant, becoming New York’s largest all-electric tower, the company has said.
The 2.5 million-square-foot tower is also set to feature “flexible and collaborative space” that JPMorgan said can easily adapt to the “future of work.” The skyscraper will offer 2.5 times more outdoor space on the ground level of Park and Madison avenues, featuring wider sidewalks and a large public plaza on Madison with natural green space and other amenities geared toward the residents, workers and visitors who frequent the neighborhood on a daily basis, JPMorgan said.
The topping out at 1,388 feet also comes as JPMorgan this year has asked its managing directors to work in the office five days a week.