Renovations are progressing on 383 Madison Avenue, a 47-story office skyscraper in Midtown East, Manhattan. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill along with Foster + Partners and Gensler, the project involves the replacement of the 755-foot-tall structure’s façade and reconfiguration of its 1.2 million square feet of office space to serve JPMorgan Chase’s investment banking division. The property is located between Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues and East 46th and East 47th Streets, directly south of the JPMorgan Tower at 270 Park Avenue.
Nearly all sections of the original cladding have been removed from the tower since our last update in late May, when most of the tower’s façade still remained intact. More of the new envelope is in place below the crown, while the podium is almost fully enclosed in the new glass curtain wall with bronze-hued fins.
Portions of the crown paneling have also been removed from the eastern side of the building.
Foster + Partners is also redesigning the building’s interiors, which will include a modernized food hall and remodeled lobby. The latter will require city approval due to the presence of a privately owned public space (POPS) for the entrance to Grand Central Madison.
The street-level entrance to Grand Central Madison at the base of the building is temporarily closed off, but commuters can still access the transit hub at the southern corner of Madison Avenue and East 47th Street.
The tower was originally designed by David Childs of SOM and was known as the Bear Stearns Building from its completion in 2001 until the company’s collapse during the 2008 recession. JPMorgan Chase acquired the building in the wake of the investment firm’s demise.
383 Madison Avenue’s transformation is slated for completion in the winter of 2027, as noted on the info board.
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Horrific and tasteless
A sky bridge between these two buildings might be nice, since there’s so much effort going on to make them look ‘related’
Actually not a bad idea.
Actually it’s better for the investment banking division to be in a completely separate building to avoid non-public information slippage.
Aside from the construction jobs this creates, why?
Very dark colored glass might not be the most welcoming choice.
As to the why, having worked at JPMorgan through the financial crisis, I can attest to this building being shoddily / cheaply finished by Bear Stearns. The building would shake far more than 270 Park, the windows were far cheaper than at 270 Park with bad sound-proofing / condensation / insulation. The bankers complained from day 1 that 383 was a significant downgrade to 270 Park even though 383 was less than 10 years old at the time.
We can critique whether we like it being given the same aesthetic as the mothership across the road but I fully understand why they’ve chosen to gut it and start again. It’s not just about re-cladding, it’s a full gut job.
Thanks for the info. I worked for the company (ad agency) that they tore the old 383 down for to build the Bear Sterns h.q.. It was the home of BBDO during the Mad Men years.
Hey, there’s still a few buildings in Midtown that you have not covered with Darth Vader glass. What’s taking so long?