Finance Giant JPMorganChase Opens Stunning New Park Avenue HQ

Shout it loud and proud, New Yorkers, JPMorganChase did it, officially opening their stunning new headquarters at 270 Park Ave. “to the public” on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. Pay a visit and you’ll see the building—big, brassy, and it’s easy to believe that it cost a reported $3 billion to build. Whether counted in wampum, dough, simoleons, or any other currency, that’s a lot of scratch.

The building is also a lot of other things, starting with spacious. With its ample outdoor plazas included, it fills the block between Park and Madison avenues between 47th and 48th streets. Rising 1,388 feet, the 60-story skyscraper, designed by Foster + Partners as the lead architect, will house around 10,000 of JPMorganChase’s 24,000 New York City employees.

In a moment when the rhetoric of “Socialism” has more currency than any time since the 1930s, and the vilification of billionaires like JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon is encouraged by the erstwhile “progressive” left, it’s all those jobs—and all that tax revenue—that explains why nearly every regular New York Democrat has backed the project over its long gestation.

Capitalism vs. Socialism: A Political Primer

While Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist running for mayor on the Dem line, wasn’t present for the opening—it would have been shocking had he been—among the regular Democratic solons present were Council Member Keith Powers, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, all of whom have endorsed Mamdani with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Jobless come Jan. 1, 2026, the term-limited Powers has been the most vocal in supporting Mamdani, while Levine, who is seen as the front-runner to win the city comptroller race, has been quieter in his support.

Falling somewhere between the two is Hoylman-Sigal, who defeated Powers in the race to succeed Levine as Manhattan Beep. Rising to the capitalist occasion, Hoylman-Sigal sure didn’t sound like any kind of “Socialist” when he stated:

“JPMorganChase has reaffirmed Manhattan’s position as the international capital of finance with their soaring, state-of-the-art global headquarters location at 270 Park Avenue. In addition to being the new home for over 10,000 employees, this gleaming new tower is an enormous boost to the local economy, having created 8,000 construction jobs from 40 local unions and triggering additional economic activity of $2.6 billion for New York City and $3.6 billion for New York State overall. I’m grateful to the leadership of JPMorganChase, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, and my partners in government for their help making this project possible.”

Powers seemingly recalled a praise song to capitalist vigor himself, saying, “The new headquarters of JPMorganChase in the heart of my district will be a massive economic driver in New York City. The building is leading the way on sustainability and public space, and provides an example for future commercial development. I’m thrilled to see it open today.”

Levine was likewise enthused, observing “270 Park Avenue was one of the most complicated construction projects in recent memory, including significant transit upgrades. Its completion is a milestone moment for New York City, solidifying Midtown’s comeback post-pandemic as one of the world’s leading economic hubs.”

The complications Levine refers to were substantial, for this address was previously home to the acclaimed Union Carbide Building. Completed in 1960, the 52-story, 707-foot-tall modernist skyscraper had to be literally deconstructed. When the deconstruction was complete in 2021, Union Carbide was the tallest building to have ever been taken down voluntarily—and the tallest building to ever come down, period, after the Twin Towers.

Others opining on the occasion included Mayor Eric Adams (who wasn’t present), Governor Kathy Hochul, and Congressman Jerry Nadler, both of whom have endorsed Mamdani, and Senator Chuck Schumer, who hasn’t. Present at the headquarters’ ribbon cutting event but not quoted in its press material was Council Member—and former Manhattan Beep—Gale Brewer, another Mamdani refusenik.

Perhaps the most surprising bold-face name at the event was the famed Deepak Chopra, the 79-year-old Indian-American author and alternative medicine and meditation guru, whom JPMorganChase dubbed a “wellness expert.”

The economic benefits of 270 Park Ave. aside, the building is also a monument to a highly considered sense of how architecture and human resources interconnect, with the company touting the work of Chopra and restaurateur Danny Meyer, the latter making the building a dining destination—if you can get in.

A Street Reporter Goes Inside

Indeed, so excited was this reporter to check out the new digs, he walked over to check things out for himself.

Entering a revolving door on Madison Avenue—the outdoor plaza of which features a remarkable rock wall and foliage artwork called “A Parallel Nature” by Maya Lin—he saw a security gate and paused. The building isn’t quite as “open to the public” as it sounded.

Turning to the reception desk, he identified himself as reporter and held up his official City of New York Press Pass. The reception desk showed no recognition of this form of ID, and very shortly the journalist was escorted back outside by the security guard whom he’d unknowingly walked past while the guard’s back was turned.

As is typical of corporate security guards, the gentleman was polite, efficient, and knew nothing about anything (when will the lobby be open to the public? Is there a public-relations person around?) except that nobody was allowed inside without ID.

Over on the Park Avenue side, this reporter pressed his face to the large glass windows to see two giant, bright Gerhard Richter paintings called “Color Chase One” and “Color Chase Two,” and an American flag waving so inspiringly, it almost seemed an optical illusion.

It’s not; rather, it’s part of “Wind Dance,” an artwork by none other than the 90-year-old architect Lord Norman Foster himself: Long may he blow.