CHICAGO — The remaking of North Michigan Avenue will take another step forward next year with the opening of a new two-story Chase/J.P. Morgan banking center in a former clothing store across from the Water Tower.

The high-traffic retail location at 830 N. Michigan Ave. will feature a Chase branch at street level and a J.P. Morgan Financial Center on the second floor, a new concept being rolled out in select markets to serve affluent clients whose net worth exceeds $1 million.

“This is going to be a marquee location for us,” said Stevie Baron, head of affluent banking at J.P. Morgan. “It’s going to be something very special.”

Expected to open next fall, the 11,000-square-foot banking center is being built out in vacant space previously occupied by Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing company, which left in 2021 amid a pandemic retail exodus along the Magnificent Mile.

The combined Chase/J.P. Morgan branch will be located next to another Michigan Avenue newcomer, British chocolatier Hotel Chocolat, which opened its U.S. flagship store last month in a 4,000-square-foot space within the same building.

When the new branch opens, Chase will close longtime locations at 605 N. Michigan Ave. and 875 N. Michigan Ave., the former John Hancock Center, consolidating operations at the new facility.

In addition to a state-of-the-art Chase branch, the new location will feature the city’s first J.P. Morgan Financial Center on the second level, opening up a suite of services and a dedicated financial team for customers whose net worth tops $1 million.

“When we think about this $1 million to $5 million client that we define as affluent, it’s one of the fastest growing wealth segments in the country,” Baron said. “It’s an underserved client base and it’s one that we at JPMorgan Chase are really focused on how to attract and help these clients with all their financial needs.”

Launched last fall in New York and San Francisco, there are now 20 J.P. Morgan Financial Center locations across the country, with 10 more expected to come online next year, including Chicago.

In addition, Chase is planning to offer J.P. Morgan Private Client services inside 50 Chase bank locations with affluent customer bases, Baron said. Qualified customers can also access the services remotely across the U.S.

“We have 150 bankers that operate in commercial office locations across the country, and they’ll be able to service clients too,” Baron said. “We recognize that there are plenty of clients that have the wallet size to become J.P. Morgan Private Clients, and we’re working on how we expand our distribution across multiple different tests right now.”

Customers who come to the new Chicago location next fall will find a full Chase bank downstairs and the J.P. Morgan financial services upstairs. An upgrade from Chase Private Client, which targets customers with net worth between $150,000 to $1 million, the program features a dedicated J.P. Morgan service team, higher limits on moving money around and investment advisers.

Chicago will be one of only three markets in the country with co-located Chase and J.P. Morgan banking centers, with the other two in California. Baron called the Michigan Avenue buildout a “significant investment” for JPMorgan Chase.

“It’s almost like a private club in a retail setting with really beautiful finishes, conference rooms,” Baron said. “We have specialists that help our clients with all their needs, from lending to banking to wealth management, including their small business. And we’re seeing a lot of success with that offering.”

JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, has 5,000 branches nationwide, including a market-leading 267 locations in Chicago and the suburbs. But that number is down from 377 locations in 2015, a nearly 30% reduction in its Chicago-area retail footprint over the last decade.

The two Michigan Avenue Chase branches that are being consolidated won’t close until the new location opens. When it does, the new facility will have more than enough capacity to absorb the business from the two shuttered locations, according to Maria Holmes, who oversees all Chicago-area Chase branches.

For those with the net worth to benefit from a walk upstairs, the new facility will offer customers a lot more services and some built-in synergy, Holmes said.

“When we are meeting clients on the first floor through Chase and we see that we may be able to better serve them through J.P. Morgan Financial Center, because of the design and the fluidity, we’ll be able to make that introduction,” Holmes said.

In recent years, Chase has doubled down on its commitment to Chicago, launching a major renovation of its namesake 60-story tower in the Loop, home to 7,000 bank employees.

The new Michigan Avenue branch will likewise bolster the city’s signature shopping district, which has struggled with vacancies in the post-pandemic landscape, with Uniqlo, Gap and Macy’s among the major retailers to depart.

Experiential tenants such as the Museum of Ice Cream in Tribune Tower, the iconic North Michigan Avenue landmark redeveloped as luxury condos, have filled some of the void. The new Chase/J.P. Morgan Financial Center springing up next to a chocolatier in a vacant clothing store may represent the ongoing evolution of the Magnificent Mile.

“It’s a beautiful, iconic space looking out at the Water Tower — we’re very excited to have that location,” Holmes said. “It also will help with the vitality of Michigan Avenue. We’re committed to the city, and we’re committed to Michigan Avenue.”

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