Construction worker killed in fall at JPMorgan Chase HQ site

A construction worker was killed last week in a fall at the site of JPMorgan Chase’s in-progress headquarters in Midtown East.

The unidentified employee was working on the 12th floor at 270 Park Avenue on Friday, NBC New York reported. The Department of Buildings said the worker lost balance and plummeted through a hole 20 feet. 

The worker — who was doing carpentry work and employed by Certified Interior — was pronounced dead at the scene, the DOB said in an emailed response to The Real Deal on Monday morning. Following the incident, construction was paused at the site and an investigation was launched.

The DOB did not have any further update on the investigation.

The financial giant revealed its plans for the site a year ago. Foster + Partners is designing a 60-story, 1,388-foot-tall tower set to span 2.5 million square feet. It is expected to house up to 14,000 bank employees and have plenty of outdoor space, including a public plaza on Madison Avenue.

Construction had already started by April and is slated to finish in 2025. The development was made possible by the 2017 Midtown East rezoning, which affected more than 70 blocks to allow for a higher floor area ratio; JPMorgan was the first to launch a project tied to the rezoning.

This is the second known construction fatality of both the month and the year. A 64-year-old doing demolition work at 126 Lafayette Street in Chinatown was killed earlier this month when a likely overloaded floor collapsed and caused a wall to fall. Three other workers were hurt. 

This month also saw a rare outcome in the death of a construction worker: A contractor was convicted in a September 2018 death at a Sunset Park site. In the incident, Luis Sánchez Almonte was killed when 15,000 pounds of debris fell on him.

Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed Carlos’ Law, named for a worker killed in 2015. Construction companies found criminally responsible for the death or injury of a laborer now face steeper fines, up to $500,000 for convictions.

— Holden Walter-Warner