This has taken rather longer than expected, but it seems that JP Morgan is
finally very close to inking a deal to move back downtown, where it belongs.
The WSJ’s Alex Frangos reports
that the bank’s new skyscraper, on the site of the not-yet-demolished Deutsche
Bank tower, will be 50 stories and 1.3 million square feet – a step down
from the 57 stories and 1.6 million square feet that were being
mooted back in February.
It’s good that JP Morgan is moving back to the financial district, although
I daresay it will continue to have a substantial presence on Park Avenue. It’s
certainly good that JP Morgan isn’t moving
to Stamford, not that it was ever really going to. But here’s the most interesting
part of Frangos’s story:
People familiar with the matter say J.P. Morgan spent over a month negotiating
with Mr. Silverstein about moving into his buildings, but the two sides were
unable to come to terms.
Silverstein’s towers have larger footprints than the Tower 5 site where JP
Morgan is going to build, which make them more natural homes for banks who want
huge trading floors. It’s interesting that Silverstein was willing to let JP
Morgan fall through his fingers: there aren’t that many banks who want to move
their headquarters to a new building in downtown New York, and he’s going to
need to find three. With Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan building new headquarters
already, and Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns happily ensconced in their own
new buildings in midtown, it’s not clear who Silverstein is hoping to attract.