JPMorgan Doubles Miami Office Space, Expands Into West Palm Beach
The nation's largest bank is aggressively expanding in South Florida.
JPMorgan Chase is planning to double its Miami office footprint, making room for 400 more employees at its Brickell space while opening its first West Palm Beach office.
The bank has taken an additional 80K SF of office space at 1450 Brickell Ave. and plans to open a 13K SF office at Related Cos.’ 360 Rosemary in West Palm Beach that will host more than 60 employees, it announced Friday.
It will renovate its existing 80K SF in the Brickell tower that was developed by Rilea Group in 2010 in a partnership with Spanish investors Amkin Real Estate, who later purchased Rilea's stake in the property. It's part of a two-year plan that includes opening new offices in Melbourne, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
“Miami and South Florida are home to an increasing number of our clients, customers, community partners and employees, and a strategic location for our operations in Latin America,” Jonathan Bello, co-chair of the firm’s South Florida Market Leadership Team, said in a statement.
Three new J.P. Morgan financial centers will also open early next year in Palm Beach, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens. The firm has opened more than 20 customer-facing offices across the country, converting some former First Republic Bank locations after taking it over last May when the San Francisco-based bank collapsed.
“These new centers will serve clients across banking, lending and wealth, and will offer the best of both worlds — the strength and scale of JPMorganChase and First Republic's commitment to exceptional client service,” Jen Roberts, CEO of Chase consumer banking, said in a statement.
JPMorgan Chase has 16,400 employees across Florida working in commercial and investment banking, consumer and community banking, and asset wealth management. The bank has 6.2 million customers and more than 400 branches across Florida, it said in the announcement.
Wealth management firms have flocked to and expanded in Miami as billions of dollars flowed to the region, driven by the relocation of wealthy executives and the flight of Latin American capital into U.S. investments.
Goldman Sachs opted to double its presence at the Southeast Financial Center in Brickell in 2022 after taking space in West Palm Beach. BNY Mellon Wealth Management beefed up its Miami staff that same year.
Global Wealth Management opened a Coral Springs office in March a year after Oppenheimer & Co. opened an office in Coral Gables.
JPMorgan is looking to expand its wealth management business, including a push to open its Wealth Plan tool to retail customers. The firm has around 5,400 wealth advisers with around $900B in assets under supervision, according to Reuters.
The 80K SF expansion is one of the largest leases to be signed this year in South Florida.
“When Rilea Group developed 1450 Brickell in 2010, we designed the building with blue-chip companies like J.P. Morgan in mind.," Rilea Group Chairman Alan Ojeda said in a statement. He added that the building's forward-thinking design has allowed it "to still command some of the highest blended rents in the city today.”
The largest deal so far in 2024 was MSC Cruises' lease of 130K SF at Sawyer’s Walk in Overtown, but the Swiss shipping and cruise firm purchased the space for $67M this week.
Assurant also signed a 78K SF lease at Waterford Business District in April as it looks to offload its 79-acre campus south of Miami.
Leasing activity in Miami is keeping pace with last year, while Broward and Palm Beach counties lag behind their 2023 performance, according to Cushman & Wakefield data.
The $102.39-per-SF asking rate for Class-A space in Brickell is up 21.1% year-over-year, and the last remaining space at 830 Brickell, which was leased last week by Citadel, was being marketed for around $200 per SF.
UPDATE, JUNE 21, 12:45 P.M. ET: The story has been updated with new information about the ownership and a statement from the property developer.
