The Real Deal New York

Financial District, also known as FiDi, is a neighborhood on the southern tip of Manhattan. Investment banks, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, are located there. It is the site of Dutch settlement and has undergone successive transformations of population and urban use since the 17th century. FiDi has become more of a residential neighborhood in contrast to its strictly business character before the 2000s, when it would become deserted at the end of the business day. Precipitated by a recession in the early 1990s, developers converted millions of square feet of commercial space to residential. FiDi condominium-conversions include 40 Pine Street, where condos were carved out of the former offices of Chase Manhattan offices and 15 Broad Street, which Lev Leviev and Shaya Boymelgreen converted to 382 condos from the old JPMorgan Chase headquarters. The New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street rises 870 feet and has 898 rentals. Commercial development has also continued, before and after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Goldman Sachs opened a 43-story headquarters at 200 West Street in 2009 and Silverstein Properties is developing the new World Trade Center complex, including One World Trade Center, on the site of the former Twin Towers. Cond_ Nast, the publisher of Vogue and The New Yorker, has moved into 1 million-square-feet of space at 1WTC, and other media and advertising firms are following suit and moving downtown. -TA