JPMorgan Expands at Brookfield’s 5 Manhattan West

Manhattan office landlords fearful of losing JPMorgan Chase leases to its debuting headquarters at 270 Park Avenue need not yet worry.

The bank expanded its presence at Brookfield’s 5 Manhattan West by 139,000 square feet in the fourth quarter, according to the Commercial Observer. The expansion, disclosed in a Colliers office report, brings JPMorgan’s footprint at the Midtown West building to 565,000 square feet.

Further details of the deal, including the length of the expansion and the asking rent, were not reported. But the average asking rent in Midtown in the fourth quarter was $84.24 per square foot, according to CBRE.

JPMorgan also recently expanded its footprint at L&L Holding Company’s 390 Madison Avenue, adding 60,000 square feet to its office there. The bank occupies nearly 500,000 square feet at that property.

The deals stand out when compared to the bank’s recent opening of a 2.5 million-square-foot, Foster + Partners-designed tower at 270 Park Avenue. The headquarters is designed to accommodate roughly 10,000 of JPMorgan’s 24,000 New York employees.

Across the street from there is another building the bank owns, paving the path for what has been described as a JPMorgan-centric neighborhood.

But JPMorgan isn’t ready to consolidate to one office or one area of Manhattan yet. JPMorgan is undertaking a $1 billion renovation of 383 Madison Avenue, the former Bear Stearns building across the street from the headquarters it bought in 2008.

It also recently signed a multi-year renewal on its 270,000-square-foot lease at 237 Park Avenue, a victory for co-owners RXR Realty and Walton Street Capital.

A year ago, Amazon expanded its presence at 5 Manhattan West by 112,000 square feet through WeWork, which is operating the space on behalf of the e-commerce giant.

Other tenants at the 16-story office building include weight loss startup Noom and Whole Foods, which leases 60,000 square feet of retail space at the property.

— Holden Walter-Warner