JP Morgan confirms Canary Wharf move

Songbird Estates and JP Morgan today confirmed that the bank will move in to the former headquarters of Lehman Brothers at 25 Bank Street in Canary Wharf, bringing the bank’s operations east, but leaving the future of the Riverside South offices unclear.

Reuters reports:

The Canary Wharf Group -- which is majority owned by Songbird Estates -- said construction work would recommence immediately to bring the development to the street level and that it had extended its development agreement with JPM until October 2016.

Riverside South is an enormous development planned to be the next stage of Canary Wharf’s growth. Comprised of two towers and huge trading floors, overlooking the Thames, it is designed to be the new European home for JP Morgan and should bring a number of other developments in its wake, ultimately doubling the size of the Wharf. Canary Wharf, like London Bridge, is one of the employment hubs driving Brockley’s long-term development.

Currently under construction, the building will almost certainly not be built on a speculative basis, so needs an anchor tenant. Whether JP Morgan views the Lehman move as an interim measure or a long-term alternative remains unclear and, despite some bowing and scraping by government to JPM leaders, the bank is hedging its bets. In either case, a major bank is relocating to Canary Wharf.

And as an early Christmas treat for the Anonymous bubble boys: