Old J.P. Morgan & Co. building at 23 Wall Street to become department store?

[Updated at 12.30 p.m. on July 6, 2011 with comments from JSR Capital] Cushman & Wakefield has been retained by JSR Capital to find retail tenants for the old J.P. Morgan & Co. building at 23 Wall Street (J.P. Morgan & Co. became JPMorgan Chase in 2000), The Real Deal has learned. The building was purchased for $150 million in 2008 by China Sonangol. The team is marketing 178,000 square feet of space, including square footage in two adjacent buildings, 35 Wall Street and 15 Broad Street, both on a corner across the street from the New York Stock Exchange.

“It Is A Great Place for a department store,” Joanne Podell, an executive vice president at Cushman who is marketing the space with Matthew Seigel, told Crain’s. She said she intends to reach out to Bloomingdale’s to see the store might want to create an annex in the space.

Finding the right retail tenant or group of shops could be tricky, Crain’s said, because wealthy Financial District tenants aren’t necessarily after the same shopping experience as tourists. “We don’t want an off-price retailer, but it isn’t appropriate for Bergdorf Goodman either,” Podell said.

The Real Deal previously reported that retail efforts at the space officially launched in February, headed up by managing agent JSR Capital.

“We had always planned to bring on a broker,” said Jona Rechnitz of JSR. ” I retained Cushman because of their global reach and sterling reputation.”

Rechnitz said he didn’t want to rush into hiring a brokerage as others had been unsuccessful at the site. In fact, he sat down with the Lansco Corporation and many other firms before eventually opting for the Cushman team.

Back in February, Lansco’s Christine Emery told The Real Deal, that she though the surrounding streets were too narrow to accomodate the constant shipments that a mass retail outlet would require. “We fantasized about that back in 2004,” she said, but “I do not think it’s realistic,” she said.

Podell anticipates strong interest in the site as Lower Manhattan continues to become more desirable

“A lot has happened downtown in the 10 years since the attacks of 9/11,” Seigel said. “We’ve got momentum, and the area is still under-retailed.” [Crain’s]