Lower Manhattan is one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the city, the Wall Street Journal reported. Once considered a purely commercial district, abandoned come closing time, some 56,000 people now live south of Chambers Street, double the number of residents than in 2001.
“After Sept. 11, downtown became a residential community,” said Tom Goodkind, a 22-year resident of Battery Park City. “It was odd.”
Government incentives have been an important strategy for keeping residents and drawing new ones to the Financial District, Goodkind said, as well as the ever-increasing pool of career opportunities in the area.

A report produced by pro-business group the Alliance for Downtown New York shows that Lower Manhattan has recovered almost all the jobs it lost after the 2001 attacks. [more]

54 Bond StreetFrom the February issue: “It’s like being in the desert,” luxury broker Donna Olshan recently said
of the inventory in the high-end Downtown Manhattan market.
“There’s nothing to buy,” reiterated agent Alison Rogers of DG Neary
Realty, when the fourth-quarter Manhattan market reports were released.

The very beginning of the New Year is always a cyclical low point
for residential inventory in New York, as sellers pull their listings
from the market in the hopes of re-launching their efforts with vigor in
time for the spring buying season.
But this year’s January inventory trough was actually 5.8 percent
above its year-ago level, according to the real-time listings tracker on
UrbanDigs.com. And at press time, inventory had already risen by 6.5
percent in the three weeks since then. [more]

The number of media tenants in Lower Manhattan is on the rise, according to the Alliance for Downtown New York. In all, media tenants, including Broadcast Music, Niche Media and GDS Publishing, occupy upwards of 1.15 million square feet of office space in the neighborhood. Although “financial services remain [the area's] signature industry,” said Elizabeth Berger, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the area is attracting a reputation as a “media central,” she said. TRD [more]

The Alliance for Downtown New York has come out with a new study on how
to transform the dated Water Street into a more vibrant and
pedestrian-friendly scene. According to the Downtown Express, the study
says leases in many of the street’s office buildings will expire over
the next five years, which puts local businesses and landlords in
jeopardy if tenants opt to move out.
Among the major Water Street tenants are Standard & Poor’s, A.I.G.
and law firm Sullivan and Cromwell. To keep them there, the Alliance
suggests creating more diversity in retail, dining and public spaces in
an effort to be led by the public sector. That includes re-scaling the
streetscape, strengthening its connection to its history and to the
waterfront, realigning public and ground-floor spaces and extending
hours of activity, said Liz Berger, president of the Alliance. [Downtown Express]

[more]

The Andaz at 75 Wall Street and Elizabeth Berger

The hospitality industry is expanding rapidly in Lower Manhattan, according to economic development organization Alliance for Downtown New York, which reported that the number of hotels in the area has tripled since Sept. 11, 2001. The number of rooms in the area, meanwhile, increased by 60 percent during the same time period. Elizabeth Berger, president of the alliance, said that while business travelers have kept the hospitality market in the area stable, an increasing number of tourists have helped spur hotel expansion. “Business travelers remain a significant market element, but the growth of leisure visitors… shows that Lower Manhattan is a destination of choice,” Berger said. Among the new hotels in the region are the World Center Hotel at 144 Washington Street and the Andaz Hyatt Wall Street at 75 Wall Street. TRD

[more]

The Andaz at 75 Wall Street and Elizabeth Berger

The hospitality industry is expanding rapidly in Lower Manhattan, according to economic development organization Alliance for Downtown New York, which reported that the number of hotels in the area has tripled since Sept. 11, 2001. The number of rooms in the area, meanwhile, increased by 60 percent during the same time period. Elizabeth Berger, president of the alliance, said that while business travelers have kept the hospitality market in the area stable, an increasing number of tourists have helped spur hotel expansion. “Business travelers remain a significant market element, but the growth of leisure visitors… shows that Lower Manhattan is a destination of choice,” Berger said. Among the new hotels in the region are the World Center Hotel at 144 Washington Street and the Andaz Hyatt Wall Street at 75 Wall Street. TRD

[more]

From top: the current Water Street corridor and a rendering of the area after the revitalization plan

While Lower Manhattan may be better known for its office buildings than its bustling pedestrian neighborhoods, a new proposal could turn a key corridor into a commercial haven. The Alliance for Downtown New York, a neighborhood advocacy group, has pitched a comprehensive reorganization plan for Water Street designed to enhance foot traffic and encourage retail activity. The plan includes a broad reconfiguration of the roadway by scaling down Water Street and making the area more pedestrian-friendly through the addition of plazas and landscaped space. Also integral to the plan is a reevaluation of current Water Street zoning, the Downtown Alliance said, in order to allow more ground-floor retail activity. While it was not immediately clear how much the program will cost, Downtown Alliance said it expects the initiative to be complete in 2020. TRD

[more]

From top: the current Water Street corridor and a rendering of the area after the revitalization plan

While Lower Manhattan may be better known for its office buildings than its bustling pedestrian neighborhoods, a new proposal could turn a key corridor into a commercial haven. The Alliance for Downtown New York, a neighborhood advocacy group, has pitched a comprehensive reorganization plan for Water Street designed to enhance foot traffic and encourage retail activity. The plan includes a broad reconfiguration of the roadway by scaling down Water Street and making the area more pedestrian-friendly through the addition of plazas and landscaped space. Also integral to the plan is a reevaluation of current Water Street zoning, the Downtown Alliance said, in order to allow more ground-floor retail activity. While it was not immediately clear how much the program will cost, Downtown Alliance said it expects the initiative to be complete in 2020. TRD

[more]

Carl Weisbrod, the Trinity Real Estate head who announced his resignation from the organization last week, believes “the future is bright” for the Financial District despite the sluggish office market. The former founding president of both the Economic Development Corp. and the Alliance for Downtown New York, Weisbrod told Crain’s that while the short-term outlook for Lower Manhattan is murky, the area’s expanding residential population means that “10 years from now it will be a very exciting place.” [more]

Elizabeth Berger

A 28-year resident of Lower Manhattan who has worked in city government for years, Elizabeth Berger now advocates for the area’s economic well-being as head of the country’s biggest business improvement district. While the neighborhood is clearly more vibrant than in the early 1980s, lately it has struggled. Construction at the World Trade Center site is still years behind schedule. Office vacancy rates will hit 14 percent next year because financial companies have shuttered or moved. And as The Real Deal reported in March, 4 of the 11 new Manhattan developments with the most foreclosure filings are located below Canal Street. Plus, sales activity in the Financial District, which makes up most of the Downtown Alliance, is still sluggish compared with other Manhattan neighborhoods. In an interview with The Real Deal, Berger explained how to fill empty cubicles, why Lower Manhattan is a better corporate address than Midtown and the benefits of a live-work district. [more]