China's Largest Conglomerate Buys Building Housing JPMorgan's Gold Vault

In what is the most remarkable news of the day, which has so far passed very quietly under the radar, Fosun International, China's largest private-owned conglomerate which invests in commodities, properties and pharmaceuticals also known as "Shanghai's Hutchison Whampoa", announced in a statement filed just as quietly with the Hong Kong stock exchange, that it had purchased JPM's iconic former headquarters, the tower built by none other than David Rockefeller, at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza for a measly $725 million.

Here is Bloomberg described the transaction:

Over the past year, other Chinese developers and wealthy investors have been buying real estate in the U.S.

China Vanke Co., the biggest homebuilder listed in mainland China, said in February it joined a residential real estate venture in San Francisco. The families of Zhang Xin, co-founder of Soho China Ltd. (410), the biggest developer in Beijing’s central business district, and Brazilian banking billionaire Moise Safra this year bought a 40 percent stake in New York’s General Motors Building.

The landmark 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and built in the 1950s, was once the headquarters of Chase Manhattan Bank. Rockefeller, as head of the bank’s building committee, selected the site and oversaw its construction.

JPMorgan intends to relocate about 4,000 employees, most of the people who work in the 60-story skyscraper, to other New York locations, Brian Marchiony, a spokesman, said in August. JPMorgan occupies about half of its space.

None of this is particularly newsworthy What is, however, is what Zero Hedge exclusively reported back in March, namely that the very same former JPM HQ at 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza is also the building that houses the firm's commercial gold vault: incidentally, the largest in the world.

Recall:

What do we know about 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza. Well, aside from the fact that the 60-story structure, built in the 1950s, was the headquarters of the once-legendary Chase Manhattan corporation, and which when it was built was the world's sixth tallest building, not much.

So we set off to learn more.

To learn more, we first went to the motherlode: the Landmarks Preservation Commission, whose report on 1 CMP describes everyone one wants to know about this building and then much more, such as that:

One Chase Manhattan Plaza combines three main components: a 60-story tower, a 2½ acre plaza, and a 6-story base, of which 5 floors are beneath grade.

So the old Chase HQ, once the stomping grounds of one David Rockefeller, and soon to be the other half of JPMorgan Chase, has 5 sub-basements, just like the NY Fed...

Reading on:

Excavations, said to be the largest in New York City history, reached a depth of 90 feet

Or, about the same depth as the bottom-most sub-basement under the NY Fed...

But then we hit the jackpot:

Originally constructed with white marble terrazzo paving and enclosed by a solid parapet of white marble travertine that was personally selected by Bunshaft in Tivoli, Italy, the L-shaped plaza levels the sloping site and conceals six floors of operations that would have been difficult to fit into a single floor of the tower, including an auditorium seating 800 [and] the world’s largest bank vault.

And there you have it: the JPM vault, recommissioned to become a commercial vault, just happens to also be the "world's largest bank vault."

Digging some more into the curious nature of this biggest bank vault in the world, we learn the following, courtesy of a freely available book written by one of the architects:

On the lowest level was the vault, which rested directly on the rock - the "largest bank vault in the world, longer than a football field." It was anchored to the bedrock with steel rods. This was to prevent the watertight, concrete structure from floating to the surface like a huge bubble in the event that an atomic bomb falling in the bay would blow away the building and flood the area.

In other words, the world's biggest bank vault, that belonging to the private Chase Manhattan empire, and then, to JPMorgan, was so safe, the creators even had a plan of action should it sustain a near-direct hit from a nuclear bomb, and suffer epic flooding (such as that from Hurricane Sandy).

* * *

So, what the real news of today is not that JPM is selling its gold vault, we knew that two months ago, or that it is outright looking to exit the physical commodities business, that too was preannounced. What is extremely notable is that in one very quiet transaction, China just acquired the building that houses the world's largest gold vault.

Why? We don't know. We do know that China's gross gold imports from Hong Kong alone have amounted to over 2000 tons in the past two years. This excludes imports from other sources, and certainly internal gold mining and production.

One guess: China has decided it has its fill of domestically held gold and is starting to acquire gold warehouses in the banking capitals of the world.

For now the reason why is unclear but we are confident the answer will present itself shortly.

Comments

[vulcanraven]

The Art Of War

[Blue Horshoe Lo...]

Brilliant, as is the Chinese plan to buy up (with America's $) what parts of America America doesn't fuck up.

[kurt]

Simple, just use a crew like the one that placed the nano-t for the neo-cons. Prep the site, close to, say, service the elevators. Steal the gold. How unbelievably stupid is our guvmint? Do it during the EBT riots for cover.

Ut Furetur Ab Chao

Steal During Chaos  is the new world order!

[Edmond Dantes]

Turn your brain on, people.  The writing is on the wall.

John has a long mustache. 

[Sandmann]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061387/

A Chinese general goes berserk and has a system of tunnels dug all the way from China to USA, under the Pacific Ocean! Wherever there is an important military base, he places atomic bombs. US Navy soldiers go underground to repel the invaders.

[debtor of last ...]

After the paperburnings, several physical exchanges throughout the world would be appropriate.

[Spectre]

It sure will be convenient when China Demands the $1.3 Trillion in Treasuries be converted to GOLD.

[Esculent 69]

maybe they're are going to swap or store the tungsten that BJ Clinton gave them in the 90's. Just one big shell game. which one is the REAL gold under? Place your bets, place your bets ladies and gents.  What a shitshow!

[Typing Typer]

So that when the Chinese population overthrows communism, the communist super rich can fly to other countries where they will have their gold waiting for them.

[Esculent 69]

better yet maybe that will be the shelter for the billionaire elites when we nuke them wipping out their overgrown population. I mean they got a vault the size of a football field and a 800 seat auditorium. All the porn, hookers, blow, and booze they could ever want. wait till the air clears while living it up here in the USSA. ++Forward

[tony wilson]

real shame

real shame

larry silvestein did not buy it.

he could of called his insurance broker in london maxed up the cover.

then employed some dancing israelis dressed as arabs to help him pull it.

real shame.

shame on your rothschild china 

[DYS]

Republican, Democrat.   USA, China.   It's all the same when the bankers are at the top.    You think JPM is going to cry when they are controled by the same people who control the Chinese?   It's all smoke and mirrors, the whole fucking thing.

[fijisailor]

That price surely does not include any gold since it would not be very much anyway.  What about that underground connection to the NY FED?  Now the Chinese can just walk over there and get what they already bought and move it into their own building.

[lolmao500]

Maybe they'll blow it up in a false-flag operation... then all the gold will ``disappear`` and will magically appear in Chinese coffers... stealthy payment of gold to the Chinese...

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

It's easy. They're saving on shipping costs. Now no need to move it. Just move in personnel to look after all their newly bought gold. :-)

[Lmo Mutton]

I can't wait till those China troops get here.  I want a long haired, hour glass shaped virgin that can make a good sammich.

[reader2010]

fire up the "scientific racism" as much as you can. 

[whoopsing]

The place was built in the fifties so it may have a little asbestos problem

[Trucker Glock]

Problem?  Might save it when .gov crashes a plane into it.

[joego1]

I'm glad I don't have to pay the tax bill on that turd.

[MeelionDollerBogus]

?????

(Chinese: gold, bitches)

[richsob]

It means absolutely nothing.  First, they won't store their own gold in the vault.  Second, we don't have to worry it's going to be used to sneak the U.S. gold over to China because our gold is already gone. And third, if there WAS gold there and we wanted it, the Marines could take the damn building in 30 minutes.  Get a grip, people.  The real battle will be a (behind the scenes?) standoff when the U.S. finally tells China to go suck a big green one and our forces go on Defcon 1.

[Sufiy]

We have the downgrade of the US rating where it matters most: by the Buyers of US IOUs. S&P or Moody's will not dare to make the move as DOJ was very fast to remind S&P who is in charge, but Fitch this time was more following the real mess coming out of Washington, DC with its Negative Watch for US rating.   Now the desire of China to buy all available physical Gold can be put into perspective of long term state-level planning to diversify its currency reserves out of US Dollar based assets. http://sufiy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/gold-catalyst-chinese-agency-downgrades.html#

Gold Catalyst - John Williams: Very Serious Trouble in this Next Year - Weaker Dollar and Hyperinflation GLD, MUX, TNR.v, GDX

 "John Williams is very respected economist who is providing  the real economic data, which is not massaged by the government desires and wishful thinking. His view at the crucial juncture for US Economy and Health of US dollar us very important to share now.   Gold celebrates today "The Deal" and it looks like that Debt Ceiling Raise Does Mean Increase in the Amount of debt after all."

[Sufiy]

[whoknoz]

maybe the vault is full and they have now complete ownership...so that't why JPM is "outta commodities"and the Chinese won't have to move any gold in...the price of the building is just the pretty little box for all the bijoux...

[resurger]

The Chinese will take over the world very soon...

When we are done nuking one another, ill go work in China..

[Incubus]

IS fried dog penis any good with enough ketchup?

I'll go over there post WWIII, too.

[IrritableBowels]

Anyone have a spare copy of Pimsleur's "Mandarin"?

[jonjon831983]

This is a good sign NY Fed still has gold... it'll just be transferred over to the nextdoor neighbors.

[Herdee]

Maybe the Chinese need the tunnel for a reason.Like,you owe us.

[pparalegal]

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, TARP, Green Shoots! No, wait... how do you spell that in Mandarin? Even Cramer is talking gold now.

[James]

Tried to post how you say those words in mandarin and all I got was question marks.

Maybe ZeroHedge could fix that since we'll all be speaking Mandarin soon anyway?

[boeing747]

Also quietly JPM exited student loans business because .gov took over most business and risks.

[Trucker Glock]

Probably cheaper to buy that building than to keep shipping bonds across the ocean.  Hope the vault is HUGE.

[XXL66]

So if they anchored the basement they knew the vaults would be empty, because i don't think when it would be loaded with gold it would drift away...

[Element]

Think infrastructure.

[BanksterSlayer]

I wanted to mention a news item from Jim Willie this past week about the IRS Fund Commitment and how it relates to the sale of this JPMorgan complex. See the free MP3 audio interview from Turd Ferguson here at this page:

http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/podcast/5349/jackass-roasting-open-fire

... near the 16-minute mark, he mentions the "IRS Fund Commitment" ... a type of Revenue Bond that the U.S. [Banksters] made to China ... and that the U.S. has now defaulted on the obligations and payments setup in that Bond.

I will paraphrase Jim's words a bit: 

"America's biggest committed source of income is IRS tax revenue. A commitment was made of the IRS funds. And the commitment was made to China. The commitment backed up a very big set of derivatives that China bought.

This sounds like the back-end of the 1999 gold lease of the Mao-Tsung-era gold in exchange for the most favored trade status. I've been scratching my head for years trying to figure out why did the U.S. promise to give its industry to China?

You don't hand all your industry to another country unless they give you something huge. 

And they gave Wall Street a lot of gold. And by 2007 Wall Street reneged on it . We are beginning to think that, by 2010, when the U.S. economy did not recover, there was a default, NOT on the return of the gold to China ... well of course that also did happen ... But there was a different kind of default. 

It was a default on the basis of this IRS derivative to China. Think of the IRS fund and the derivative to China as being a macro kind of mortgage bond.

[The host chimes in: "yes, like a Revenue Bond."]

And this bond promises to deliver income against it. Well, with the Recession, this IRS Fund was defaulted-on to China. And then suddenly we have a Mickey-Mouse government shutdown? [re: October 2013.]

Hey, the shutdown was real. The shutdown was really a default. And the shutdown was probably staged and ordered -- BY CHINA because we reneged on their IRS Fund payments.

Now figure in this quiet sale of the JPMorgan five-building complex plus gold vault to China a couple of months ago for almost nothing, far less than its market value. [The sale was made because JPMorgan defaulted in its obligation to China.]

We set up as part of the Most Favored Nation status a big lease of gold, and secured it with IRS funds. After 2008-2009, the US economy did not recover and we defaulted on those bonds [the IRS Fund payments]. China is pissed off. They order us to do a government shutdown as an exercise on the default. 

And then China says, "Screw you, we're going to BUY the Federal Reserve and we're going to start with JP Morgan."

It will become clearer in time but the proof to me was China purchased the JPM plaza with this underground gold vault that is CONNECTED UNDERGROUND to the Federal Reserve building across the street.

(this info is also summarized at this page)

http://www.omegashock.com/2013/12/27/2014-the-beginning-of-the-end-curre...