270 Park May Be New York’s Most Expensive Office Tower

270 Park cost an estimated $6 billion, an apparent record for an office tower. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images Ever since 270 Park Avenue opened last fall, JPMorgan Chase has been extremely pleased with its new office tower, declaring the brawny Norman Foster–designed skyscraper to be a “true physical manifestation of our values.” Which is a good thing, as The Wall Street Journal reported that the cutting-edge, luxury-laden tower apparently cost $6 billion — likely making it the city’s most expensive office tower to date. The bank, it noted, has been evasive about 270 Park’s cost, throwing out vague ballparks of $3 billion or $4 billion, even as it’s been eager to show off its flashy perks: large artworks by Gerhard Richter and Maya Lin, an indoor flagpole with a flag that flutters in the direction of the wind outside, an Irish pub with Guinness on tap, a wellness center that offers physical therapy and allergy shots, and a gym with a row of Pelotons facing Central Park. While other city landmarks like the Empire State light their spires in tribute to holidays and celebrations, JPMorgan hired artist Leo Villareal to run a light show across half the building’s exterior. The construction-cost estimate, which came from the bank’s real-estate division, includes everything from air rights, which are typically included in construction costs, to furniture and art, which are not. The price for the 2.5 million-square-foot tower, which works out to $2,500 per square foot, is high, but not wildly so for this kind of thing, and construction costs have shot up since COVID hit. But as the Real Deal points out, 270 Park is far and away more expensive than any other existing high-end office tower: 50 Hudson Yards, the 2.9 million-square-foot Related tower that’s home to BlackRock and Meta, for example, cost a mere $4 billion (or roughly $1,400 per square foot) — at the time of its construction, in 2017, it was considered New York’s most expensive office tower. A decade ago, One Vanderbilt’s $3.14 billion cost was seen as outrageous. And the tower is just part — albeit the centerpiece — of the 6 million-square-foot midtown campus Jamie Dimon is amassing. It’s also very much at odds with Dimon’s former penny-pinching ways: He closed the gym and the bank’s old headquarters back in 2004, “arguing that employees could find a place to work out on their own,” according to the Journal, and in 2018 he said investors should short companies that announced plans to build new headquarters. But these are flush times for JPMorgan. In 2024, the bank earned $59 billion in profit, more than any lender in the history of American finance. Last year, profits were down slightly, falling to $57 billion, but leadership expressed optimism that the “benefits of deregulation” would help reverse that trend in the future. It may also be the new normal: Citadel’s 2 million-square-foot midtown tower at 350 Park Avenue is also expected to cost $6 billion. 270 Park May Be New York’s Most Expensive Office Tower Your product is saved! You’ll receive emails when your saved products go on sale. Manage preferences.