Real Estate Can’t Get Enough Of JPMorgan Because JPMorgan Can’t Get Enough Office Space
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While some large banks like HSBC are trimming their office footprints, looking for less but better-quality space, one bank seems absolutely insatiable right now.
U.S. giant JPMorgan Chase is in talks to lease about 150K SF at the 1 Cabot Square office building in Canary Wharf, Bloomberg reported. That is because it is running out of space at 25 Bank Street, its nearby 1.1M SF London headquarters.
The 540K SF 1 Cabot Square is owned by the Qatar Investment Authority and leased to Credit Suisse, but it is currently empty. After a March 2023 deal to acquire its distressed Swiss rival, UBS moved Credit Suisse staff to its 700K SF UK base at Broadgate in the City of London.
JPMorgan, which employs 12,000 people in London, became the sweetheart of the office real estate world earlier this year when it said it would be bringing staff back to the office five days a week, though this expansion predates that mandate, Bloomberg reported.
The space JPMorgan would lease is likely to be on a temporary basis. The bank has launched a review of its long-term real estate needs, and options include refurbishing the 25 Bank Street tower it owns or building a new office on another site it owns on the Canary Wharf estate known as Riverside South, Reuters reported.
JPMorgan's total office requirement is likely to be between 1.5M SF and 2M SF, according to Reuters. One option that seems remote is for JPMorgan to follow the likes of HSBC and move from Canary Wharf to the City. That is because there are unlikely to be any development sites that could house a building large enough for its requirement.
JPMorgan bought the Riverside South site, which offers enough space for a 2M SF office to be built, for £237M in 2008. At that point, the City and Canary Wharf were competing fiercely to win the bank as a tenant. It bought 25 Bank Street from Canary Wharf Group for £495M in 2010.