JPMorganChase to leave downtown Fort Worth to anchor new office in Cultural District
JPMorganChase will be moving its Fort Worth headquarters from downtown to the Cultural District, the second major bank to recently announce its departure from the central business district.
The move to the future Crescent Offices West was announced in a press release Wednesday morning before a groundbreaking ceremony for the new office tower at 3300 Camp Bowie Blvd.
JPMorganChase will anchor the Crescent office property, occupying three of its eight floors.
The bank plans to grow its Fort Worth workforce to about 300 employees, almost double the 160 employees at its downtown office at 420 Throckmorton St., just north of the Tower and two blocks from Sundance Square Plaza.
“A Fort Worth financial district is forming on downtown’s west side, and JPMorganChase is proud to be a major part of this signature development,” said Elaine Agather, chair of the Dallas region and global vice chair at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
Agather said the bank’s move isn’t about leaving downtown, but relocating to a space it was able to design around its needs.
“Bankers love to have their clients to their home, which is their office, and we will have the space to do that and invite people in, and I think we’ll be doing a lot more of that in the community, too,” Agather said.
The Crescent Offices West’s location in the heart of the Cultural District was also attractive.
“I think the whole area, the cultural center, etc., you find that bankers love the activity around it, too — and they come in five days a week,” Agather said.
JPMorgan made in headlines in January, when it asked hybrid employees to begin working at the office five days a week starting in March. The bank has more employees in Texas than New York, where its headquarters is located; about 12,700 people work at its 50-acre corporate campus in Plano.
Located at the corner of West Seventh and Boland Street, the eight-story, 170,000-square-foot building will cost over $70.4 million to build. The Class AA office tower’s amenities will include a parking garage, gym, deck, conference center, balconies on each floor and two restaurants. Construction is expected to be complete by January 2027.
Developer Crescent Real Estate first announced plans to build a second office property in March 2024.
Despite commanding one of the city’s highest commercial rents, the existing office tower, Crescent Offices East, is one of the city’s most in-demand properties. Over 90% of the building was leased less than a year after it opened. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based PNC Bank occupies about 15,000 square feet of space in the building.
Located at 3230 Camp Bowie Blvd., the Crescent development is home to a luxury hotel, spa, upscale apartments, high end restaurants and an office building. The property was developed by Crescent Real Estate, which is owned by Fort Worth investor John Goff.
In his remarks at Wednesday’s groundbreaking, Goff said the Cultural District’s growth is similar to that of Dallas’ Knox-Henderson district.
Goff said Crescent has fielded significant interest in the Crescent Offices West, and expects the property will be fully leased “relatively quickly.” Rent starts at $60 per square foot, a rate Goff said is necessary to justify new construction of the Crescent’s quality.
Despite the economic tumult of recent weeks, Goff believes the Metroplex will continue to thrive.
“I think the economy, particularly here in Fort Worth, as well as the overall Dallas Fort Worth region, is going to continue to prosper,” Goff said. “You know, yes, we’re going through some chaos here on a national level, but I don’t think it’s impacting day to day decision making, you know, by companies here locally.”
Researchers at JPMorgan say there is a 60% likelihood a recession will happen this year.
Why is the bank leaving downtown?
JPMorgan is the second major bank to plan a relocation out of downtown Fort Worth in the past month.
Wells Fargo is moving to new Class A office space at the high-end mixed-use development Clearfork. The bank will anchor the $15 million building, which is expected to open in the second quarter of 2026. The bank has occupied the Wells Fargo tower in downtown — one of the two City Center high rises — since 2006.
After the Wells Fargo news broke in late March, City Center’s president and CEO told the Star-Telegram that the 33-story tower’s occupancy is “very healthy at 93%.”
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Robert Allen, the president and CEO of the Fort Worth Economic Development Partnership, said the range of development happening across the city is crucial to its continued growth.
“Bringing diverse product to the market is a big thing,” Allen said. “We need more product, especially office product, and so having a location like this going online and then having the rest of downtown with their opportunities and their growth as well, I like having them both. Everybody wins.”
Both Goff and Agather are members of the EDP’s board of directors.
Companies across the country are increasingly moving to high-end offices, in a trend known as “flight to quality.” Amenities provided by Class A offices are viewed as a key tool needed to lure employees back to the office more days of the week.
Rent for Class A office space in Fort Worth is about $30.55 per square foot and is expected to rise, according to real estate firm JLL.
Over 400,000 square feet of trophy-class office space is scheduled to break ground in the Cultural District and West 7th area this year.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 9:34 AM.
