P.M. BRIEFING : Bank to Trim Manhattan Staff

Chemical Banking Corp. is considering moving at least 3,000 employees to New Jersey when the lease on its Park Avenue headquarters runs out in 1994, it was reported today.

The bank said in a letter to city officials that because of the high cost of Manhattan real estate, its front office staff will be reduced from 4,700 to 1,600, the Wall Street Journal said.

Senior Vice President Peter Brooke wrote that “a plan has been developed which retains a small ‘flagship’ headquarters facility in Manhattan containing staff who have an absolute need to be located there. All other staff would be located in a second facility in New Jersey.”

The bank has a nonbinding option with Hartz Mountain Industries to construct a building in Secaucus, N.J., according to a Hartz Mountain official. City officials have since shown bank officials city-controlled sites in Queens, the newspaper said, but Chemical has shown little interest.