270 Park Avenue (2021–present)
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270 Park Avenue, also known as the JPMorgan Chase Building, is a
supertall According to the CTBUH, a supertall building is defined as a building between in height. The city with the most supertall buildings is Dubai at 33 entries, followed by Shenzhen and New York City with 21 and 19 supertall buildings respectively. ...
skyscraper on the East Side of the Midtown neighborhood of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Designed by the firm of
Foster + Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the design ...
, the
skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...
is expected to rise when completed in 2025. The tower replaces the 52-story Union Carbide Building, built in 1960 and demolished in 2021. The old structure was the headquarters of
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...
, which is using
383 Madison Avenue 383 Madison Avenue, formerly known as the Bear Stearns Building, is a , 47-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 2002 for financial services firm Bear Stearns, it was designed by archi ...
until it can move into the new building. Before that, the old building was originally the headquarters of
Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) is an American chemical company headquartered in Seadrift, Texas. It has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company since 2001. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more f ...
.


Site

Located in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
neighborhood, 270 Park Avenue will occupy the entire city block bounded by
Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...
to the west, 48th Street to the north,
Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...
to the east, and 47th Street to the south. The lot measures about with a
frontage Frontage is the boundary between a plot of land or a building and the road onto which the plot or building fronts. Frontage may also refer to the full length of this boundary. This length is considered especially important for certain types of ...
of on each avenue and on each street. The lot is part of Terminal City, the area that developed rapidly after the 1913 completion of the largely underground
Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...
. The buildings erected in the following years included office buildings such as the
Chanin Building The Chanin Building ( ), also known as 122 East 42nd Street, is a 56-story office skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. It is on the southwest corner of 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, nea ...
, Bowery Savings Bank Building, and New York Central Building, and hotels such as the Biltmore,
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,
Waldorf Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, Art Deco landmark des ...
, and Summit. The site of the future 270 Park Avenue was occupied by a six-building complex, the
Hotel Marguery The Hotel Marguery was the first of three buildings located at 270 Park Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was a six-building apartment hotel complex built in 1917 as part of Terminal City (Grand Central Termina ...
, which opened in 1917 and was developed by
Charles V. Paterno Charles Vincent Paterno (born Canio Paternò, August 4, 1878 – May 30, 1946) was an Italian-born American real estate developer. He was called the "Napoleon of the Manhattan Skyscraper Builders". Life and career Paterno was born in Castelmez ...
. The stone-clad hotel was 12 stories high and designed in the
Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...
style. By 1920, the area had become what ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called "a great civic centre". The Hotel Marguery was replaced by the 52-story Union Carbide Building, the first structure to occupy the entire block, which opened in 1960. The building eventually became JPMorgan Chase's world headquarters. Among the site's current neighbors are the old
New York Mercantile Library The Center for Fiction, originally called the New York Mercantile Library, is a not-for-profit organization in New York City, with offices at 15 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Prior to their move in early 2018, The Center for Fiction ...
and
400 Madison Avenue 400 Madison Avenue is a 22-story office building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is along Madison Avenue's western sidewalk between 47th Street (Manhattan), 47th and 48th Streets, near Grand Central Terminal. 400 Madison Avenue was de ...
to the west;
Tower 49 Tower 49 is an office skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The lot has frontage on both 48th and 49th Streets between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue. The street frontages were offset by about the width of an NYC bro ...
to the northwest;
277 Park Avenue 277 Park Avenue is an office building in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It stands on the east side of Park Avenue between East 47th and 48th Streets, and is tall, with 50 floors. It is tied with two other buildings, 55 Wat ...
to the east;
245 Park Avenue 245 Park Avenue is a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, it was completed in 1967 and contains on 48 floors. The Building Owners and Managers Association awarded the 2000/2001 Pinnacle Award to ...
to the southeast; and
383 Madison Avenue 383 Madison Avenue, formerly known as the Bear Stearns Building, is a , 47-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 2002 for financial services firm Bear Stearns, it was designed by archi ...
to the south.


Architecture

Foster and Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the desig ...
designed the building, which will be tall. Sources disagree on the number of stories. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' indicates that the building will rise 70 stories,
Emporis Emporis was a real estate data mining company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. The company collected data and photographs of buildings worldwide, which were published in an online database from 2000 to September 2022. Emporis was acquired ...
cited a figure of 63 stories, and the
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and Sustainable design, sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in ...
gives a figure of 60 stories. There are 24 massive columns at the base, which will support a lobby measuring about high, with public space facing Madison and Park Avenues. Above the lobby will be a series of setbacks to the west and east, tapering to a pinnacle. The interior will fit 15,000 employees and will contain a food hall, a penthouse conference center, a fitness center, and large spaces illuminated by natural lights. The floor plates will be able to be configured in several layouts. To comply with city legislation, which bans the use of natural gas in all new buildings constructed after 2027, the structure will be powered entirely by hydroelectric energy. Ninety-seven percent of materials from the old building were creatively reused, recycled, or otherwise diverted from landfills. The design team also includes
Adamson Associates Adamson Associates is a Toronto-based architectural firm founded in 1934. It also has affiliated offices in Vancouver, Los Angeles (Adamson Associates, Inc.), New York City, New York (AAI Architects, P.C.) and London (Adamson Associates nternatio ...
as architect of record; Jaros, Baum & Bolles as MEP engineer; Vishaan Chakrabarti">Jaros, Baum & Bolles">nternatio ...
as architect of record; Jaros, Baum & Bolles as MEP engineer; Vishaan Chakrabarti as Collaborating Architect; and Severud Associates as structural engineer.


History


Planning

In February 2018, JPMorgan announced it would demolish the former Union Carbide Building to make way for a structure that was almost twice as tall. This was the first major project to be announced as part of the
Midtown East Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...
rezoning in the 2010s. The former building became the tallest voluntarily demolished building in the world, overtaking the previous record-holder
Singer Building The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower) was an office building and early skyscraper at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Serving as the headqua ...
that was demolished in 1968. The replacement , 70-story headquarters would have space for 15,000 employees. Tishman Construction Corporation will be the construction manager for the project. To build the larger structure, JPMorgan purchased hundreds of thousands of square feet of
air rights In real estate, air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the Earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by oth ...
from nearby St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church as well as from
Michael Dell Michael Saul Dell (born February 23, 1965) is an American billionaire businessman and investor. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world's largest technology infrastructure companies. As of May 2025, accordin ...
's
MSD Capital DFO Management, LLC (formerly MSD Capital) is an American family office that manages the capital of Michael Dell and his family. The firm, which is based in New York City and has offices in Santa Monica and West Palm Beach, was formed in 1998. ...
, the owner of the air rights above Grand Central Terminal. In October 2018, JPMorgan announced that British architectural firm
Foster + Partners Foster and Partners (also Foster + Partners) is a British international architecture firm with its headquarters in London, England. It was founded in 1967 by British architect and designer Norman Foster. The firm has been involved in the design ...
would design the new building. The plans for the new building had grown to , though the zoning envelope allowed for a structure as high as . However, this also raised concerns that the taller building would require deeper foundations that could interfere with the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
's
East Side Access East Side Access (ESA) is a public works project in New York City that extended the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) two miles from its Main Line (Long Island Rail Road), Main Line in Queens to the new Grand Central Madison station under Grand Cent ...
tunnels and the
Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...
's rail yards, which are directly underneath 270 Park Avenue. In May 2019, the
New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...
unanimously approved JPMorgan's new headquarters. In order to secure approvals, JPMorgan was required to contribute $40 million to a district-wide improvement fund and incorporate a new
privately owned public space Privately owned public space (POPS), or alternatively, privately owned public open spaces (POPOS), are terms used to describe a type of public space that, although privately owned, is legally required to be open to the public under a city's zoni ...
plaza in front of the tower. After pressure from Manhattan Borough President
Gale Brewer Gale Arnot Brewer (born September 6, 1951) is an American Democratic politician from the state of New York who has represented the 6th New York City Council district since January 2022, a position she previously held from 2002 to 2013. From Janu ...
and City Council member
Keith Powers Keith Tyree Powers (born August 22, 1992) is an American actor and model. He is best known for his roles as Tyree in the film ''Straight Outta Compton'' (2015), Ronnie DeVoe in BET's miniseries '' The New Edition Story'' (2017), and David in t ...
, JPMorgan also agreed to fund numerous upgrades to the public realm surrounding the building, including improvements to Grand Central's
train shed A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...
and a new entrance to the station at 48th Street. The MTA had planned to repair the Grand Central Terminal train shed's concrete and steel as part of the 2020–2024 MTA Capital Program. The first portion of the train shed to be repaired was underneath 270 Park Avenue, since the agency wished to conduct the repair work alongside new developments where possible.


Construction

In July 2019, JPMorgan Chase signed an agreement with MTA in which the bank guaranteed that the demolition of 270 Park Avenue would not delay work on East Side Access. That month, scaffolding was wrapped around the tower and podium structure on the
Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...
side of the building, the first step in an anticipated 18-month demolition effort. But by late December 2020, only the podium structure had been demolished. Still, parts of the new superstructure were assembled on the Madison Avenue side, and the following month saw the assembly of the new structure's first steel beams. Demolition of the main tower was complete by April 2021; the entire demolition effort wrapped up in June. This allowed workers to begin building support columns in the base across the entire site. By the end of the year, cranes and construction elevators had been built. In April 2022, JPMorgan CEO
Jamie Dimon James Dimon ( ; born March 13, 1956) is an American businessman who has been the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of JPMorgan Chase since 2006. Dimon began his career as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group. After earnin ...
announced that he would further consolidate the company's New York City offices at 270 Park Avenue, since half of the staff would be able to work from home at least part of the time. In the first five months of 2023, construction reached the first two setbacks and rose above the height of the Union Carbide Building. Work was temporarily suspended after a construction worker fell to his death from the 12th floor on March 24, 2023. , the JPMorgan Chase Building was estimated to be completed in 2025. By late September construction had reached the fourth of the five tiers. There was a topping-out ceremony for the building on November 20, 2023. This involved a beam being welded in place at the top of the fourth tier, with "the crown to be topped out toward the very end of the year". In December 2023, ''New York YIMBY'' predicted that the building would be architecturally topped-out by the following month; this had occurred by February 2024. Outside cladding work proceeded on the base columns as well as the walls, the Park Avenue side being done before the Madison Avenue side. In late August the facade work reached the top of the structure. By the end of 2024 the tower crane had been removed although the construction elevator remained in place on 48th Street, with interior and exterior work continuing in preparation for occupancy in 2025.


Reception

Architectural critic
Alexandra Lange Alexandra Lange is an American Architecture criticism, architecture and design critic and author based in New York. She won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, as a contributing writer for Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Citylab. The author of a ser ...
described the new 270 Park Avenue in 2022 as "a Son of Hearst Tower grafted on top of creepy legs." Christopher Bonanos of ''Curbed'' characterized the building's base as supporting "all that heft balance, quixotically, on ballerinas' toes." Reese Lewis of the ''Brooklyn Rail'' characterized its construction as "the fundamental condition of total contradiction", saying that the building's development had been motivated purely by economic factors and that the previous building had been torn down without good reason.


See also

*
28 Liberty Street 28 Liberty Street, formerly known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza, is a 60-story International Style skyscraper between Nassau, Liberty, William, and Pine Streets in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The building, designed by ...
*
List of tallest buildings in New York City {{Location map+ , Manhattan#New York City , float= center , width= 280 , caption = Location of all skyscrapers in New York City taller than {{convert, 650, ft, m, 0 , alt= , places = { ...
*
List of tallest buildings in the United States The world's first skyscraper was built in Chicago in 1885. Since then, the United States has been home to some of the world's tallest skyscrapers. New York City, and especially the borough of Manhattan, has the tallest skyline in the country. E ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:270 Park Avenue (2021-present) Financial services company headquarters in the United States Foster and Partners buildings JPMorgan Chase buildings Midtown Manhattan Park Avenue Skyscraper office buildings in Manhattan