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JPMorgan Chase ditching Fidi office space
This is not the first this has been reported, but now it seems a bit more real: Bloomberg reports that JPMorgan Chase is looking to sublet just under 700,000 square feet of its office at at 4 New York Plaza at The Battery — just next to the ferry terminal. And Crain’s reported recently that the firm has decided to have about 10 percent of its work force work from home full time and reduce its office space by 40 percent overall.
“The bank, for years New York’s largest commercial tenant and private-sector employer, will move to more open-seating arrangements and only 60 chairs may be needed for every 100 employees because not everyone will come to the office at the same time, Dimon said. The CEO estimated “maybe 10%” of staffers would work from home full time,” Crain’s reported. The company will continue to build out its tower on Park Avenue.
Assuming I don’t have to point out the obvious here, but this big business news is not good news for small business…
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Beyond the obvious potential impact from COVID, much of this space was probably going to be transferring to the new headquarters building at 270 Park that JPM is building anyway. That new tower adds substantial seating capacity over what was the old headquarters.
They probably took advantage of work from home to not extend the lease until the new 270 Park is finished. 4 NY Plaza had teams like legal, HR, etc. which can probably take reduced space at 390 and 383 Madison and run on a hybrid/remote model in the meantime.
If I remember correctly, they are only adding about 100,000 sq feet of space compared to the old Union Carbide building. 2.5m compared to 2.4m.
Unless you mean they are adding capacity through more open layouts and different use of the space, which could be the case.
Either way, the destruction of the old 270 is cultural vandalism, and I am really disappointed it could not be stopped. And I’m a fan of Norman Foster.
At peak occupancy, there were about 6,000 JPM employees at 270 Park (in a building designed for 3,500 originally). The new headquarters could hold 15,000 (as reported, but I am sure not currently planned). It is substantially more floor space given the height of the new tower (double) and a more expansive base (even with public space).
They’re adding ~1M SF, from 1.5M to 2.5M SF, via air right purchases from GCT and some other landmarks in the rezoned midtown east district. Usable area gains will probably be even greater than that. The height of the tower is basically doubling—700′ vs. 1400′. (Wikipedia list’s 2.4M SF as the old building’s floor area, but that’s wrong. https://www.som.com/projects/union_carbide_corporation_headquarters)
From Crains, September 2018:
“The plans call for a building big enough to house the bank’s entire city workforce, which numbers 15,000 and is currently spread out over several locations.”
https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/jpmorgan-files-air-rights-transfer-boost-new-midtown-east-tower
So it sounds like the plan had always been to consolidate the NYC workforce into the new 270 Park. Covid/remote work doesn’t appear to be changing that, but it’s enabling them to try to monetize their other spaces in the interim through subleases.