JPMorgan’s 270 Park Skyscraper Revealed As $6B

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Jamie Dimon already built one of the most expensive office projects in New York City history, but previous cost projections of JPMorgan Chase’s skyscraper at 270 Park Avenue may have been drastically undersold.

JPMorgan’s real estate staff estimated an all-in price tag of $6 billion for the gleaming skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, the Wall Street Journal reported. That estimate includes the cost of construction and furnishing, as well as intangible assets associated with the building, such as air rights.

The bank has been reluctant to name a price on the building. Early estimates put the project at $3 billion, while Dimon said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony that a disclosure to his board placed the cost at $4 billion. But there’s been no formal reveal or disclosure on bank balance sheets.

The bank has defended the development as the “true physical manifestation of our values,” touting the investment’s importance to both the bank and the city. The project created 8,000 construction jobs, according to the bank.

It’s also unclear how much the cost of the project differs from other top-notch trophy office developments in Manhattan. It breaks down to $2,500 per square foot and work began in 2019, before the pandemic and interest rates ratcheted up the costs of construction.

But the high price point may be historic nonetheless. While there doesn’t appear to be a definitive source on the most expensive office projects in New York City history, the all-in cost of Related Companies’ 50 Hudson Yards was expected to be the most expensive office building ever constructed in the city at nearly $4 billion; 270 Park dwarfs that.

It’s only the beginning for the bank’s presence in the district, too.

The Norman Foster–designed skyscraper, which will house about 10,000 employees, is the centerpiece of a JPMorgan campus that includes the neighboring Bear Stearns tower at 383 Madison Avenue and 250 Park Avenue.

The bank’s footprint totals nearly 6 million square feet in the heart of Midtown, rivaling the entire global holdings of certain Wall Street competitors.

— Holden Walter-Warner