An architectural rendering from October 2025 shows JPMorgan Chase's proposed crown sign for the South Station Tower. Image courtesy of JPMorgan Chase
What had become an open secret in Boston’s real estate industry is now official: JPMorgan Chase will become the South Station Tower’s largest tenant.
The bank announced this morning that it’s signed a lease for 249,00 square feet across eight floors at the tower. Occupancy will begin in 2028, the company said.
Chase declined to disclose neither the duration of the lease nor the financial terms of the deal. The average asking rent for class A office space in downtown Boston sat at $74.75 per square foot as of the end of 2025, according to commercial brokerage CBRE, the most recent data available.
The highly amenitized, speculative tower opened last fall with only two tenants for its 680,000 square feet of office space in the tower’s lower portion. Rhode Island insurer FM Global, leased 57,000 square feet in January 2025 and law firm Jones Day took 41,000 square feet in December 2024.
With the Chase lease, tower developer Hines is still left with 333,333 square feet of office space left to fill. Presales are already underway at the 166 condominiums that will sit atop the tower, along with their amenities floor.
Crowning even those condos, though, will be 12-foot, illuminated letters spelling out “J.P. Morgan.” While the city hasn’t yet formally signed off on the signage, emails between Chase executives and Boston Planning Department officials obtained by Banker & Tradesman through a public records request show cordial exchanges between the two sides as city officials critiqued the bank’s plans. Chase appears to have made its formal submission for approval on Dec. 4.
Chase hopes to have the signage formally approved by mid-summer, said Justin Page, head of New England regional communications for the bank.
Tower Amenities a Major Draw
The South Station Tower will become home to around 700 Chase employees currently spread around three sites downtown, with room for another 300 or so to be hired over the following few years, Page said in an interview. Most will come from its 85,000-square-foot space at 50 Rowes Wharf and the 129,000-square-foot former First Republic Bank offices at 160 Federal St. Also consolidating, the 7,000-square-foot offices of a fintech Chase bought, at One Liberty Square.
Combined with a 141,000-square-foot, 800-person tech and operations back office at 451 D St. in Boston’s Seaport District, the consolidation will increase Chase’s Boston office footprint to 387,000 square feet.
As it builds out its new offices in the South Station Tower, Chase doesn’t plan to add any employees-only amenities like the extensive suite in its new headquarters tower other than a client center event space, with breakout rooms and a roughly 100-person conference hall, Page said.
But the tower comes with several high-profile tenant amenities baked in: a residents-and-office-tenants-only rooftop restaurant, a 1-acre rooftop garden, a two-floor fitness center, a cocktail bar, coworking area and a cafe. Company executives praised the building’s amenities in statements included in Tuesday morning’s announcement. Chase has required its employees to work in the office five days a week since March 2025.
““We believe South Station Tower will not only enhance our ability to serve clients and attract top talent, but also contribute to the city’s ongoing growth and vibrancy,” Dan Curtin, New England market manager at J.P. Morgan Private Bank and vice-chair of Chase’s New England market leadership team said in a statement.
In addition, the tower’s location right above the South Station commuter rail and subway station made the tower particularly attractive to company executives, Page said.
Downtown Boston office tower owners have engaged in an arms race to add bigger and bigger amenities packages to their buildings in the face of a downtown office market where over a quarter of the space is either vacant or available for sublease.
Commercial brokerage JLL represented JPMorgan Chase in lease negotiations. CBRE is the leasing brokerage for Hines. Architecture firm Gensler will be tasked with designing the interiors of Chase’s new offices.
