REAL ESTATE: Face Lifting in Wall Street

The building boom that has face-lifted mid-Manhattan (16 skyscrapers currently under construction) has bypassed almost completely the Wall Street financial district at the island’s tip. Last week the Street, which has financed much of the uptown modernization, turned to do something about its own grimy buildings and dark canyons. Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman John J. McCloy announced tentative plans to construct a $75,000,000 downtown Rockefeller Center type of development: a 50-to 60-story Chase Bank headquarters flanked by a broad, tree-lined plaza and a 1,000-car garage.

Chase Manhattan’s new quarters, scheduled for possible 1958 completion, would consolidate under one roof 8,700 of the bank’s personnel, now scattered over nine buildings, at “substantial savings in operating expenses.” As its contribution to the area’s rejuvenation, New York City plans to build near by a 5½-acre, 750-unit, middle-income housing project.