Financial District

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.
Find out more

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

By Lucie Levine

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

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

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

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

Back in April 6sqft reported on the progress of British-Ghanian architect David Adjaye's first NYC skyscraper at 130 William street, with the nearly-800-foot tower at street level and rising. Adjaye, who has achieved international renown for projects like the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and named one of TIME’s 2017 most influential people, was inspired by the historic masonry architecture of the Financial District for the new building's anything-but-ordinary design. And we're now seeing more of that design: The New York Times reveals information on what the pricing for the building's 800 units is likely to be once sales launch, along with some new renderings of its unique architecture and interiors.
Let's hear those prices. And when can we move in?

May 31, 2018

New 9/11 Memorial monument honors first responders exposed to Ground Zero toxins

Sixteen years ago as of yesterday, the rescue and recovery effort for the September 11th attacks ended. It's estimated that 400,000 people were exposed to life-threatening toxins, and since then, nearly 70,000 first responders and more than 14,000 survivors have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program. Yesterday, former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart and 9/11 Memorial & Museum president Alice Greenwald revealed the official design for Memorial Glade, a monument to all those who have lost their lives or are sick due to these related illnesses. In addition to increasing awareness about the health crisis, the memorial will also "recognize the tremendous capacity of the human spirit, as exemplified during the rescue, recovery and relief efforts following the 9/11 attacks."
Learn about the design

May 14, 2018

Proposal for NYSE district overhaul calls for curbless streets, greenery and enhanced lighting

In an effort to enhance the accessibility and the appearance of the New York Stock Exchange district, a new proposal is calling for curbless streets, enhanced lighting, multi-functional seating and simplified security structures. The Alliance for Downtown New York released on Monday a study that details ways to improve the historic area to make it more appealing and easier to navigate. While the corner of Wall and Broad Street has witnessed more than 400 years of Lower Manhattan history, starting when Dutch settlers built a wall as the city's northern border, the area is not living up to its potential as one of New York City's crown jewels, according to Jessica Lappin, the president of the Alliance. The study is the result of a nine-month process, with the Alliance working in tandem with local stakeholders, community members and design partners, WXY Architecture + Urban Design. "This report lays out a roadmap," Lappin said in a press release. "It is a grand yet achievable vision that could turn the Stock Exchange District into the jewel it should be." The group estimates the overhaul project will cost roughly $30 million.
See the proposal

May 10, 2018

Fresh renderings for One Beekman, Richard Rogers’ first residential building in the U.S.

Rendering of One Beekman courtesy of Noë & Associates with The Boundary New renderings have been unveiled for One Beekman, a mixed-use development designed by Richard Rogers, and it has nearly reached its 25-story pinnacle in the Financial District. As the firm's first residential project in the United States, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners have designed a tower that provides every single apartment with views of City Hall Park by shifting the circulation core to the south, according to the New York Times. The front of the building is open with oversized windows, allowing for half of the 31 total condo units to have outdoor terraces overlooking the park.
See them here

Wall Street’s historic Trinity Church will partially close during a two-year, $99M renovation

Rendering of the canopy at the graveyard via Trinity Wall Street

May 7, 2018

Wall Street’s historic Trinity Church will partially close during a two-year, $99M renovation

The Trinity Church, whose history in New York City dates back 300 years, will partially close beginning Monday for a two-year, $98.6 million renovation of its nave, the main part of the church. As its first major revitalization in over 70 years, the landmarked church's project will restore parts of the original 1846 Gothic Revival style designed by Richard Upjohn. This includes rebuilding the chancel to its original size, increasing capacity by 140 seats and painting the interior walls and ceilings to reflect the original stone design. The reconstruction will move services and events at the Episcopal parish to nearby St. Paul's Chapel, but the Chapel of All Saints and the churchyard, where Alexander Hamilton is buried, will remain open throughout the project.
Find out more

Architecture And Design

May 1, 2018

John Varvatos’ design director lists fashionable Financial District condo for $725K

This elegantly designed studio in the Greenwich Club at 88 Greenwich Street belongs to Martin Dimen, who is the design director for the iconic contemporary men’s brand John Varvatos–and the home's interiors reflect the brand's aesthetic of masculine opulence. The Financial District condo is asking $725,000.
See more, this way

Distinctive Homes

Construction is underway at the World Trade Center performing arts center

Rendering by REX

April 30, 2018

Construction is underway at the World Trade Center performing arts center

Construction of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center is officially moving forward, with the first pieces of the center's structural steel now visible above street level, according to CityRealty. The idea for an arts center at the World Trade Center was included in the original vision for rebuilding the area after Sept. 11, a plan proposed nearly 15 years ago. Designed by REX, the flexible "Mystery Box" will be wrapped in translucent marble, the same material used on the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and laminated with insulated glass. Named for Ronald O. Perelman who gifted $75 million to the project, the center will include 200,000 square feet of space, three halls and a rehearsal space, a restaurant and a gift shop.
More details here

Condé Nast will sublease nearly one-third of its One World Trade Center headquarters

Image courtesy of Michael Vadon’s Flickr

April 25, 2018

Condé Nast will sublease nearly one-third of its One World Trade Center headquarters