JPMorgan Chase is nearing the end of its six-year endeavor to dismantle its Midtown Manhattan headquarters and erect a new $3 billion skyscraper from the ground up, with Jamie Dimon and other executives significantly involved in its architectural planning.
Norman Foster, the architect responsible for Apple's California headquarters and Manhattan's Hearst Tower, suggested this new endeavor could surpass his prior achievements.
“In terms of leisure, entertainment, lifestyle, I would say that every level of this tower pushes those boundaries further than anything we’ve done before,” he told The Wall Street Journal on Friday.
But Dimon essentially acted as the building’s “master architect,” David Arena, the bank’s head of real estate, told The Journal.
Other JPMorgan execs were intimately involved in the design process, Dimon told The Journal.
Doug Petno, who co-leads commercial and investment banking, was assigned to examine the ground floor and lobby. Mary Erdoes, head of asset and wealth management, and Marianne Lake, in charge of consumer operations, were responsible for planning office levels and client areas. Additionally, Erdoes collaborated with former president Daniel Pinto to review the executive floor.
The 60-story building at 270 Park Avenue is also home to 19 restaurants, as well as coffee shops, a company store, a gym and Morgan’s, an English pub, The Journal reported.
Certain executives worried the main lobby at the company's central office resembled a shopping center more than a corporate workspace. Consequently, Dimon sought counsel from Rick Caruso, a wealthy Los Angeles entrepreneur known for developing upscale retail complexes, regarding how to imbue the area, which features shops and restaurants, with a more businesslike atmosphere, as reported by The Journal.
For almost two decades, Dimon has led the nation's biggest bank as its chief executive. He recently stressed the significance of in-person attendance in an expletive-laced rant sent to staff. His response to employees reluctant to return to the office? Create an environment they'll find difficult to decline.
The structure, occupying an entire city block and designed to accommodate 10,000 staff when fully operational, commenced operations in late August, with Foster + Partners announced announcing on Sept. 10 that building was complete.
The project won't be finished until next year. Dimon and other executives anticipate their upper-floor offices won't be ready until Christmas, The Journal reported. According to Friday's report, a trading floor that's not yet open features rows of wooden desks still wrapped in blue masking tape.
The $3 billion investment underscores Dimon's larger wager on the future of office work, stemming from his belief that genuine culture and innovation flourish exclusively when individuals collaborate in person, as more staff return to the premises next year.