Chase Tower Erected At Ground Zero
JP Morgan Chase & Co. has [struck a deal] with the World Trade Center site owners to take over the development of one of five new office towers currently planned for Ground Zero, Governor Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg announced this morning.
The bank will pay $300 million to the Port Authority to build and eventually occupy Tower 5 on the site of the former Deutsche Bank building, which was heavily damaged on 9/11 and is now being torn down. Once completed, the 42-story, 1.3 million-square-foot tower will house an estimated 7,000 thousand workers as well as the firms investment banking headquarters. The deal also comes complete with some [pretty sweet perks] for the bank from both city and state governments, including tax breaks, discounted power and rent subsidies worth an estimated $50 million a year for the first five years. Ah, the joys of holding assets worth [$1.3 trillion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP_Morgan_Chase)!
Many hope that Chases move will [help to re-establish Lower Manhattan] as a world financial center as well as revive the World Trade Center complex as a viable commercial site. We are thrilled at the financial terms of this transaction. It is well within what makes sense for the state and the city, the [governor said](http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=70725) during the announcement. The tower is expected to be completed by 2012.