"Designed by the firm of Foster + Partners, the tower is expected to rise 1,388 feet (423 m) when it is 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, which is using 383 Madison Avenue until it can move into the new building.
Site
Located in New York City's Midtown Manhattan neighborhood, 270 Park Avenue will occupy the entire city block bounded by Madison Avenue to the west, 48th Street to the north, Park Avenue to the east, and 47th Street to the south. The lot measures about 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) with a frontage of 200 feet (61 m) on each avenue and 400 feet (120 m) 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. The buildings erected in the following years included office buildings such as the Chanin Building, Bowery Savings Bank Building, and New York Central Building, and hotels such as the Biltmore, Commodore, Waldorf Astoria, and Summit. The site of the future 270 Park Avenue was occupied by a six-building complex, the Hotel Marguery, which opened in 1917 and was developed by Charles V. Paterno. The stone-clad hotel was 12 stories high and designed in the Renaissance Revival style. By 1920, the area had become what The New York Times called "a great civic centre".
In 1961, the Hotel Marguery was replaced by the 52-story Union Carbide Building, the first structure to occupy the entire block. The new building eventually became JPMorgan Chase's world headquarters.
Among the site's current neighbors are the old New York Mercantile Library and 400 Madison Avenue to the west; Tower 49 to the northwest; 277 Park Avenue to the east; 245 Park Avenue to the southeast; and 383 Madison Avenue to the south.
Architecture
Foster and Partners is designing the building, which will be 1,388 feet (423 m) tall. Sources disagree on the number of stories. The New York Times indicates that the building will rise 70 stories, Emporis cites a figure of 63 stories, and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat gives a figure of 60 stories. There are 24 massive columns at the base, which will support a lobby measuring about 80 feet (24 m) 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 had been salvaged during its demolition; much of this material would be used in the new building.
The design team also includes Adamson Associates as architect of record; Jaros, Baum & Bolles as MEP engineer; 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 rezoning in the 2010s. The former building became the tallest voluntarily demolished building in the world, overtaking the previous record-holder Singer Building that was demolished in 1968. The replacement 1,400-foot (430 m), 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 from nearby St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church as well as from Michael Dell's MSD Capital, the owner of the air rights above Grand Central Terminal. In October 2018, JPMorgan announced that British architectural firm Foster + Partners would design the new building. The plans for the new building had grown to 1,400 feet (430 m), though the zoning envelope allowed for a structure as high as 1,566 feet (477 m). However, this also raised concerns that the taller building would require deeper foundations that could interfere with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's East Side Access tunnels and the Grand Central Terminal's rail yards, which are directly underneath 270 Park Avenue.
In May 2019, the New York City Council 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 10,000 square feet (930 m2) privately owned public space plaza in front of the tower. After pressure from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council member Keith Powers, JPMorgan also agreed to fund numerous upgrades to the public realm surrounding the building, including improvements to Grand Central's train shed 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 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 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.
As of 2023, the JPMorgan Chase Building is estimated to be completed in 2025.
Reception
Architectural critic Alexandra Lange 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."
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