Financial District

Right now, Federal Hall at Wall and Broad Streets is closed due to the Government Shutdown. But long before the current crisis, Federal Hall was the site of several Federal firsts. New York was the nation’s first capital, a distinction the city held until 1790, and the original Federal Hall, at the site of today’s monument, was the first Capital Building. Federal Hall hosted the first Congress, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch Offices. The building witnessed the drafting of the Bill of Rights and the passage of the Northwest Ordinance. George Washington took his Oath of Office from the balcony of Federal Hall on April 30, 1789, and on January 8, 1790, he delivered the nation’s very first State of the Union Address from the building’s Senate Chamber.
What were the hot-button issues of 1790?

History

Photo courtesy of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

December 27, 2018

Port Authority offers to help in reconstruction of World Trade Center’s St. Nicholas Shrine

By Alexandra Alexa

Last December, construction on the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at the World Trade Center stopped due to lack of funding. The Archdiocese has remained committed to finishing the construction of the church, which was destroyed during the 9/11 attacks. Recently, the Port Authority — who owns the land on which the church is sited at Liberty Street — said that it wants to help the church with its rebuilding efforts, as the New York Post first reported.
Find out more

New Developments

December 3, 2018

In the market for a palace? This massive FiDi landmark is 50% off

By Alexandra Alexa

A FiDi landmark with a storied past is back on the market with a significant price drop. The American Bank Note building was built in 1908 by architects Kirby, Petit & Green to serve as the company’s headquarters, then later bought by a foundation of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and used as a meditation retreat. The landmarked building at 70 Broad Street was last sold to a Chinese construction firm in 2010 for $18 million. The new owners renovated the opulent Neo-Classical structure in 2015 and put it on the market for a whopping $88 million in 2016. On Friday, the listing hit the market again, this time with a slightly more moderate $43 million price tag.
Take a look

City scraps controversial plan for a new 40-story jail on top of the Manhattan marriage bureau

80 Centre Street via Wiki Commons

November 29, 2018

City scraps controversial plan for a new 40-story jail on top of the Manhattan marriage bureau

By Alexandra Alexa

On Wednesday, city officials announced that plans to build a 40-floor high-rise detention center at 80 Centre Street will not be moving forward, reports the Daily News. The site had been proposed earlier this year as part of a plan to close the jail at Rikers Island and relocate the inmate population to four local jails spread throughout the boroughs. The de Blasio administration cited logistical challenges associated with moving the current tenants, which include the Manhattan Marriage Bureau and offices of the Manhattan District Attorney, as reason for the decision.
More details

Policy

‘Fearless Girl’ statue begins her move to permanent Stock Exchange home

Image credit: State Street Global Advisors.

November 28, 2018

‘Fearless Girl’ statue begins her move to permanent Stock Exchange home

The four-foot bronze "Fearless Girl" statue was removed from her spot across from the iconic “Charging Bull” in Bowling Green Tuesday night, AMNew York reports, and is on her way to a more pedestrian friendly spot in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Since its appearance in 2017 a day before International Women’s Day, sending a message to Wall Street for the need of gender equality in the financial world, the diminuitive statue has become a major attraction, drawing millions of tourists and locals. State Street Global Advisors, the investment company that owns the statue, said she'd be installed in her new home by December 31.
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Events & Things To Do

1 World Trade Center boasts ‘king of TAMI’ status as tech and media firms sign on

Image courtesy of Michael Vadon’s Flickr

November 19, 2018

1 World Trade Center boasts ‘king of TAMI’ status as tech and media firms sign on

According to the building's landlord, the Durst Organization, the 104-story, 3-million-square-foot One World Trade Center tower contains more tech and creative tenants than any other in the city. That's 26 TAMI (Tech, Advertising, Media and Information) tenants, to be exact, 20 of which are in tech, Crain's reports.
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Real Estate Trends

John, a third generation Mohawk ironworker who helped raise One World Trade, photographed by Melissa Cacciola, via Melisssa Cacciola

November 16, 2018

New exhibit at 9/11 Museum features the Mohawk ironworkers who built One World Trade Center

“Skywalkers: a Portrait of Mohawk Ironworkers at the World Trade Center,” opens today at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The exhibit features photographer Melissa Cacciola’s tintype portraits of Kahnawake Mohawk ironworkers who volunteered in rescue efforts after 9/11 and helped raise One World Trade Center, Towers 2, 3, and 4, and the Calatrava Transportation Hub.
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Events & Things To Do

November 16, 2018

Behind the scenes at Trinity Church’s $112M historic restoration

Hardhats aren’t your typical church-going attire, but they were necessary at Trinity Church when Vicar Rev. Philip Jackson led a behind-the-scenes tour of Trinity’s ongoing $112,000,000, two-year restoration. The project, officially known as a “rejuvenation” of the facilities, began on May 7, 2018, and is slated to be finished in the spring of 2020. Now six months underway, the meticulous work, headed by architect Jeff Murphy of Murphy Burnham and Buttrick, will preserve Trinity’s landmarked church building while "enhancing the overall worship experience," by making the church more accessible and welcoming. Weaving our way between scaffolding and rubble in one of New York’s most iconic naves, we saw the very foundation of Trinity Church’s past and got a glimpse of its future. From the finer points of organ-voicing to some of the first examples of American stained-glass, check out 10 of the most exciting behind-the-scenes secrets of the Trinity Church Restoration.
Check out the Church!

Image credit: Binyan Studios

October 29, 2018

FXCollaborative reveals new renderings of slender Fidi condo tower

Trinity Place Holding’s new residential tower rising at 77 Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan has just released a teaser site and new renderings showing the 500-foot-tall building in all its future glory. With architecture by FXCollaborative and interiors by Deborah Berke Partners, the tower is four stories in to its 42-story height; sales are scheduled to begin in spring of 2019.
More details and renderings, this way

Amazon to open a cashier-less convenience store at Brookfield Place

Amazon Go in Seattle via Wikipedia

October 23, 2018

Amazon to open a cashier-less convenience store at Brookfield Place

Amazon will open its first cashier-less store in New York City in Battery Park City, Recode reported on Monday. Amazon Go is like a futuristic convenience store, offering ready-to-eat meals and groceries without having to wait in line. According to the company, "Just Walk Out Technology" is used, which automatically keeps tracks of products taken or returned via a virtual cart. With no lines or checkout, once you find an item you want, you can just leave.
More here

Policy

How the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has kept art thriving through FiDi’s ups and downs

Photo via LMCC

October 12, 2018

How the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has kept art thriving through FiDi’s ups and downs

By Cait Etherington

When the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) was founded in 1973, it set out to bring the arts to Lower Manhattan, a neighborhood that already had an established reputation for being first and foremost a site of business, not pleasure. What the organization’s founder, Flory Barnett, could not have foreseen at the time of the LMCC’s founding is that over the coming four decades, Lower Manhattan would face more challenges than nearly any other New York City neighborhood. From the attacks on 9/11 to the devastating fallout of the 2008 economic crisis to the occupation of Zuccotti Park in 2011, in recent years, Lower Manhattan has been at the epicenter of some of the city’s and nation’s most historic moments. Throughout these events, the LMCC has persisted and in many respects, played a pivotal role in helping the neighborhood transition into the vibrant and diverse neighborhood it is today: a place where people not only work but also live and spend their leisure time.
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Events & Things To Do

Dawn of a new Downtown: The transformation of Lower Manhattan since 9/11

Image courtesy of Michael Vadon’s Flickr

September 11, 2018

Dawn of a new Downtown: The transformation of Lower Manhattan since 9/11

By Cait Etherington

In 2010, Lower Manhattan was still deeply scarred by the attacks of 9-11. With much of the neighborhood under construction, a high vacancy rate, and few full-time residents, walking around the area, especially outside business hours, often felt like walking through a ghost town. It was, in many respects, a neighborhood in waiting. Since 2011, which marked the opening of the 9/11 Memorial—and the symbolic end of the neighborhood’s long period of recovery from the 9/11 attacks—Lower Manhattan has undergone a transformation that is difficult to ignore. New businesses have opened, new residential developments have launched, the vacancy rate has drastically declined, and in many respects, an entirely new neighborhood has taken shape.
The dawn of a new Downtown

Real Estate Trends

September 10, 2018

The retractable skylight at the World Trade Center Oculus will reopen on 9/11

The skylight at the World Trade Center Oculus will reopen on September 11 at exactly 10:28 a.m., the same time the North Tower fell in 2001. The "Way of Light," which happens every year on 9/11, will shine through the opening, bringing light to the bustling WTC transit center below. Santiago Calatrava designed the Oculus oriented in a way that allows sunlight to cross the floor, directly along the axis of the building.
Get the details

Events & Things To Do

In 1867, this lost Broadway bridge caused a feud between two hat shop owners

Loew Bridge ca. 1868, via NYPL

September 10, 2018

In 1867, this lost Broadway bridge caused a feud between two hat shop owners

Lower Broadway is the city’s oldest thoroughfare and has always been one of the busiest. In fact, in 1867, the intersection of Broadway and Fulton Street was “continually thronged with vehicles of all kinds, rendering it almost impossible for pedestrians to pass.” Without the benefit of traffic lights, the crush of traffic was so snarled and thick that policemen had to untangle the flow during business hours so pedestrians could cross. Concerned that the sheer mortal hazard of simply crossing the street was losing him business, nearby hat shop owner Philip Genin convinced the City to build a bridge across Broadway that would ease foot traffic and just so happen to deliver pedestrians safely to his shop.
Hats off to the rest of the story

History

Destroyed on 9/11, Cortlandt Street subway station reopens this weekend

Artist Ann Hamilton in front of her mosaic as a 1 train pulls into the new WTC Cortlandt Street station, via MTA Flickr

September 7, 2018

Destroyed on 9/11, Cortlandt Street subway station reopens this weekend

By Dana Schulz

Three days before the 17th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, the Cortlandt Street subway station that was destroyed that day will reopen as the last piece of the WTC site. The MTA announced today that the new 1 train station, now dubbed WTC Cortlandt, will be back in use tomorrow, Saturday, September 8th, at noon.
All the details

Transit

Travel on a 1920s ocean liner in the historic Cunard Building’s new multimedia event

Photo courtesy of D.S. DestiNY

August 28, 2018

Travel on a 1920s ocean liner in the historic Cunard Building’s new multimedia event

By Emily Nonko

One of Lower Manhattan's most stunning interiors is getting a moment in the spotlight, thanks to a Montreal-based multimedia company. The building in question is 25 Broadway, also known as the Cunard Building or Standard & Poors Building. The 1920s office was designed with an extravagant great hall for Cunard Line and Anchor Lines. The nautical-themed space, where cruise-goers would purchase tickets, became an interior landmark in 1995. Moment Factory, a multimedia company known for creating immersive environments, felt the hall would be the perfect place to debut its work in New York City. The design team studied just about every inch of the elaborate room, boasting murals, domed ceilings and marble work, to transform it for visitors while remaining true to the original architecture. The result, as the company puts it, is a "massive 360-degree digital canvas, enveloping its audience in light, color and sound." 6sqft got a sneak peek of this unique show, which brings you aboard a classic ocean liner and reveals the hall in all its glory by the end of the show.
Check out the incredible space

Battery Maritime Building’s hotel-restaurant conversion is back on track

Via Ismael Leyva Architects

August 17, 2018

Battery Maritime Building’s hotel-restaurant conversion is back on track

The plan to convert the landmarked Battery Maritime Building into a hotel and Cipriani rooftop restaurant is back on schedule after an injection of capital into the project, Crain's reported on Thursday. Developer Midtown Equities will take a 30 percent stake, allowing construction to resume this fall or winter. In 2009, the city first approved a plan to redevelop the building, which sits at 10 South Street in the Financial District, but was delayed after a series of legal and financial setbacks.
More details here

August 15, 2018

Where I Work: Go inside SHoP Architects’ aviation-inspired offices in the Woolworth Building

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and businesses of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Financial District offices of SHoP Architects. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! The largest collection of WWII-era spotter planes in the world, a massive copper section of the Barclays Center facade, a materials library with hundreds of samples of everything from fabric to flooring--these are just some of the surprises you'll come across in SHoP Architects' offices in the iconic Woolworth Building. The firm's projects include buildings at mega-developments like the Domino Sugar Factory and Essex Crossing, the twisting American Copper Buildings, and the world's future tallest residential skyscraper 111 West 57th Street, and their office certainly embodies this creativity and range of work. After taking a tour of the space, 6sqft chatted with Associate Principal Angelica T. Baccon about this very special office design, what a typical day is like at the firm, and, of course, the backstory behind those planes. We also met with Materials Librarian Kate Smith to learn a bit more about this rare resource that helps inform the ideas at SHoP.
Take the tour!

80 Centre Street; image: Wikimedia Commons.

August 3, 2018

Lower Manhattan’s Marriage Bureau building may become new jail tower as Rikers replacement

Last year, Mayor de Blasio announced his support of closing the jail on Rikers Island after protests from activists and public officials over the conditions at the aging complex. In the ensuing months, the focus turned to possible replacements for housing the jail's 5,000-plus inmates over the next decade. Now, the New York Daily News reports, the city is considering 80 Centre Street for a towering detention center as part of the plan.
The building now houses the city's Marriage Bureau

August 2, 2018

Sales launch at David Adjaye’s first NYC skyscraper in FiDi, from $780K

Sales launched this week for 130 William, starchitect David Adjaye's first skyscraper in New York City. Available residences at the Financial District tower include studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom condos, as well as and loggia/penthouse units. The apartments just listed range in price from $780,990 to just over $6.96 million. According to Lightstone, there's been enormous interest in the building: over 30 contracts have been signed in under 30 days, over a year before 130 William is set to open in 2020.
See the floorplans

Architecture And Design

After years of delays and $20M increase, Lower Manhattan pedestrian bridge won’t meet fall deadline

Rendering via WXY Architecture

August 2, 2018

After years of delays and $20M increase, Lower Manhattan pedestrian bridge won’t meet fall deadline

After two Battery Park City bridges were destroyed during the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the city quickly built the Rector Street Bridge, a temporary solution to let pedestrians safely cross West Street. The state's department of transportation released a proposal in 2006 to reconstruct the promenade but opted to renovate the bridge in 2009 instead. WXY Architecture released a new proposal in 2013 to replace the Rector Street Bridge with a 230-foot-long light-filled, permanent pedestrian walkway at West Thames Street. But, as Crain's first reported, the project won't meet its fall deadline and the project's budget has grown from $20 million to roughly $40 million.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

This Saturday, the off-limits Brooklyn Bridge Beach will open to the public

Photo via Flickr cc

July 12, 2018

This Saturday, the off-limits Brooklyn Bridge Beach will open to the public

By Dana Schulz

This Saturday is the 11th annual City of Water Day, a free festival organized by the Waterfront Alliance to get people to, on, and in New York Harbor and its surrounding waterways. The most anticipated event this year is the chance to access the normally off-limits Brooklyn Bridge Beach, located just north of Pier 17 in the Financial District. For years, Lower Manhattan civic groups have been advocating for the small, sandy beach under the Brooklyn Bridge to be opened to the public, and though it doesn't look like that'll be happening any time soon, the Alliance worked with the NYC EDC to grant access for this one special day.
Learn about all the events happening this Saturday

Events & Things To Do

July 5, 2018

Russell Simmons tries to sell his $10M FiDi penthouse for the third time in 13 years

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Will the third time be a charm for Def Jam's Russell Simmons and his FiDi penthouse? The Post reports that the music mogul is trying to sell his five-bedroom duplex at 114 Liberty Street after an unsuccessful listing in 2005 and another two-year listing in 2012 (both times asking $11 million). The sprawling pad--there's 7,175 square feet of interior space and 3,500 square feet of outdoor space split among three terraces--is now asking a bit less at $9,925,000.
Get a look around

David Adjaye reveals interiors for luxury FiDi condo, his first NYC tower

Renderings by Binyan

June 19, 2018

David Adjaye reveals interiors for luxury FiDi condo, his first NYC tower

With construction officially underway at 130 William Street and sales launching for the 244 condos later this month, Sir David Adjaye hosted an event last night to reveal the interiors of his 800-foot Financial District tower. And they're just as chic as expected, with finishes made from materials sourced from all over the world and hardware designed by the starchitect himself. Adjaye Associates collaborated with Hill West Architects on the project. "In defining the design for 130 William, I not only sought to celebrate New York City’s heritage of masonry architecture, referencing the historical architecture once pervasive upon one of the city’s earliest streets," Adjaye said. "However, and more importantly, 130 William has been crafted to focus on the new possibilities of urban, vertical living."
See the renderings here

Via Silverstein Properties

June 11, 2018

3 World Trade Center officially opens, the fourth WTC building completed

Right on schedule for a June opening, developer Silverstein Properties took the lead in celebrating on Monday the highly anticipated opening of 3 World Trade Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Led by CEO Larry Silverstein, the morning celebration at 3 World Trade Center at 175 Greenwich Street marked the official completion of four of the five buildings in the new World Trade Center complex. With nearly 40 percent of the building leased on opening day, the 80-floor tower designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners rises to 1,079 feet. "Starting with 7 WTC and the rest of the towers that followed, we sought to create modern, environmentally-conscious and technologically-advanced offices," Larry Silverstein, the chairman of Silverstein Properties, said in a statement. "Places that foster creativity where young people would want to work and collaborate. That meant great architecture and sustainable design, but also improved transportation, a more vibrant streetscape, new shops and restaurants, great public spaces, and exciting and fun public space art."
Find out more

June 8, 2018

Progress, pricing and new renderings for David Adjaye’s 130 William Street skyscraper