New York by Gehry builds a neighborhood

The area around City Hall, known as Civic Center, is flourishing, according to the New York Post, which caught up with the trend and attributed it to the New York by Gehry rental building. Once far off the radar for well-heeled Manhattan apartment-hunters, the neighborhood north of the Financial District near the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge has lured large new developments of late, and retail is sure to follow, the Post said.

In addition to 8 Spruce, which is now 90 percent occupied, there’s 5 Beekman Street, which includes 285 Thompson hotel rooms and an 85-unit condominium building; there’s 113 Nassau Street, a 30-story, 169-unit rental building; there’s the redevelopment of the top floors of the Woolworth Building (where condos will run for more than $15 million); there’s a 175-room Four Seasons Hotel with 143 condos at 99 Church Street and new condos at 19 Park Place.

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“The neighborhood is attracting a lot of people who are excited and energized by what’s happening in lower Manhattan,” Citi Habitats’ Cliff Finn, who is leading leasing at 8 Spruce, told the Post. “Between the World Trade Center, and the 9/11 Memorial, and all the retail, and the Fulton Street hub and the Pier 17 mall being redeveloped.”

Moreover, 5 Beeckman is bringing a 12,000-square-foot restaurant and event space with its 2014 opening and Silverstein Properties promises a high-end restaurant will come to 99 Church Street in addition to the retail projects mentioned by Finn. [Post] — Adam Fusfeld