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Land Use, Housing & Zoning
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and The Vestry of St. Bartholomew’s Church in the City of New York certification to the transfer of 13,000 sf of unused landmark floor area from St. Bartholomew's church to 410 Madison Ave.
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, February 09, 2023, the following resolution passed with a vote of 33 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and The Vestry of St. Bartholomew’s Church in the City of New York are seeking a certification pursuant to 81-642 to facilitate the transfer of 13,812 sf of unused landmark floor area from St. Bartholomew's Church, which would facilitate a new 121,000 sf, commercial development at 410 Madison Avenue; and
WHEREAS, 410 Madison Avenue is a 58,395-square-foot, seven-story office building, designed in the neo-federalist/new classical style by Eggers & Higgins for the Franklin National Bank, built in 1964, and is located at the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and East 48th Street on a 7,172.5 square foot lot; and
WHEREAS, 410 Madison was bought by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPMorgan) in June 2020 from the Bank of China, which used the building as its United States headquarters from 1980 until 2017; and
WHEREAS, JPMorgan currently uses 410 Madison as office space while its headquarters is being rebuilt at 270 Park Avenue; and
WHEREAS, 410 Madison is also located in the Special Midtown District, the East Midtown Subdistrict, the Northern Subarea, and in a C5-3 zoning district; and
WHEREAS, JPMorgan is a co-applicant with The Vestry of St. Bartholomew’s Church in the City of New York (St. Bart’s) and is seeking an administrative, non-discretionary certification by the Chair of the City Planning Commission under ZR 81-642 to transfer of 13,812 square feet (sf) of development rights from the St. Bart’s (the Granting Site) to 410 Madison (the Receiving Site); and
WHEREAS, St. Bartholomew’s Church and Community House are located at 325 Park Avenue, which is on the east side of Park Avenue from East 50th Street to East 51st Street, and it is also located within the Special Midtown District, East Midtown Subdistrict, and Park Avenue Subarea; and
WHEREAS, St. Bart’s is a Episcopalian church and community house designed by Bertram G. Goodhue (with a porch designed by McKim, Mead & White) in the Byzantine and Romanesque styles, the church was completed in 1919, the community house was completed in 1928, and both were designated together as an individual landmark in 1967; and
WHEREAS, St. Bart’s has approximately 540,000 sf of unused development rights and has a Continuing Maintenance Plan that was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2018; and
WHEREAS, 410 Madison has 75.4 feet of frontage on Madison Avenue, which under the East Midtown zoning, outlined in Zoning Resolution (ZR) 81-613 and ZR 81-64, qualifies 410 Madison to
- have a 15 floor area ratio (FAR) base maximum as of right,
- to be a Receiving Site for a maximum of an additional 3 FAR that is purchased from a landmark, and
- if a Special Permit is granted for a public concourse a maximum of an additional 3 FAR may be also built; and
WHEREAS, 13,812 sf at 410 Madison is the equivalent to 1.92 FAR; and
WHEREAS, JPMorgan stated that it originally bought 50,000 sf of development rights from St. Bart’s in 2019, paid St. Bart’s in full at that time, but then, at a time before October 2021, JPMorgan made some type of transaction with the Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) and Rudin Management, in which 36,139.4 sf of the JPMorgan/St. Bart’s 50,000 sf development rights were transferred to 415 Madison Avenue as a Receiving Site; and
WHEREAS, 415 Madison Avenue, currently under construction, is directly across the avenue from 410 Madison, and when completed 415 Madison will house the northernmost access point for commuters to/from East Side Access/Grand Central Madison Long Island Railroad train terminal; and
WHEREAS, In order to actuate this current transfer of 13,812 sf of development rights to 410 Madison, JPMorgan will pay $863,250 (20% of what was paid to St. Bart’s for 13,812 sf at $312.50 per square foot) to the East Midtown Public Realm Improvement Fund, which is higher than the current minimum rate of $307.45 per square foot set forth in the Zoning Resolution; and
WHEREAS, Manhattan Community Board Five has a seat on the Public Realm Improvement Governing Board that oversees the Public Realm Improvement Fund; and
WHEREAS, JPMorgan stated that although it has no set plans on how it will redevelop 410 Madison or a timeline, it is planning on a commercial office building of at least 121,000 sf at the site; and
WHEREAS, At whatever time JPMorgan decides to redevelop 410 Madison, Manhattan Community Board Five would like the design to incorporate:
- the preservation of the current 1964 neo-federalist/new-classical exterior and
- significant widening of the Madison Avenue sidewalk, which will allow for greater pedestrian volumes that will come when full service starts at East Side Access; and
WHEREAS, While Manhattan Community Board Five has long supported zoning mechanisms that facilitate the ongoing maintenance of our district’s landmarks, there remains a lack of clarity as to whether the series of transactions involving this particular set of 50,000 sf of development rights followed either the intent or the letter of the Zoning Resolution outlined in both ZR 81-642(a)(5) & ZR 81-642(b)(5)(c), which describes how transfers of landmark air rights are to be documented and disallows third-party speculation on landmark air rights; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Manhattan Community Board Five recommends approval of the non-discretionary certification by the Chair of the City Planning Commission for the application by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and The Vestry of St. Bartholomew’s Church in the City of New York to transfer 13,812 sf of unused landmark floor area from St. Bartholomew’s Church and Community House to 410 Madison Avenue.