FiDi and the other residential pockets near Ground Zero, proved tough enough to survive 9/11 plus further economic calamity years later.
…10 years later, the neighborhood has more than doubled in size. (The Downtown Alliance puts the population at 56,000.) After years of squabbles, the World Trade Center site is moving forward. Hotels, rentals and condos have risen. Restaurants are open late. Strollers bump around in morning rush hour.
Lower Manhattan’s falling crime rate has earned it a reputation as one of the safest neighborhoods in the city. But new statistics gathered by DNAinfo.com show that the neighborhood actually has one of the highest per-capita crime rates in the city, fueled in part by a staggering 1,065 grand larcenies last year.
…more than half of all crimes south of Chambers Street occur during the day, suggesting that the commuters and tourists are more likely than residents to be victims, the Downtown Alliance business improvement district said.
The words “rebirth,” “re-energize” and “revival” are commonly spoken when referring to Lower Manhattan. But, 10 years after the horror experienced on September 11, 2001, the words have taken on more than just a somber and emotional element.
Since 2001, hotel and retail services increased 10%, and tourists and business travelers now have the choice of 18 hotels – triple the number that existed in 2001 — with seven more new hotels slated for opening in the coming year, according to the Alliance for Downtown New York. Tourism has increased by nearly 30% in just the past two years, but as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 nears, the hospitality industry hasn’t lost sight of its focus.
Fresh from being evacuated for Hurricane Irene, the residents of Battery Park City have another headache to deal with this weekend. As if having millions of eyes turned towards it in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the city has released its parking plans for the area.
The Alliance for Downtown New York has released a free mobile app to provide updates on events, programming and ceremony details for the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The app is supported on iPhone and iPad platforms, and will offer up-to-date alerts about road closures, ceremonies, events, and other important information over the coming week.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg walked an audience through the major points of achievement in the revitalization effort on Sept. 6 at a breakfast in Lower Manhattan sponsored by the Association for a Better New York.
Downtown is now a magnet for new families and parents. Bloomberg referred to the neighborhood as the “diaper district.” Lower Manhattan residents are more likely to live with a spouse or child than a roommate, according to a report by the Downtown Alliance titled “State of Lower Manhattan 2011.” In addition, the study found that 40 percent of families without children are planning to have children in the coming years.
“We’re rebuilding what was lost, and that’s not just bricks and mortar,” stated Downtown Alliance President Elizabeth H. Berger in a press release. “Through this rebuilding process, Lower Manhattan has created a multidimensional community where families and parks can coexist with law firms and banks.”
Today Lower Manhattan is a transformed neighborhood that 56,000 call home.
Residential developments have boomed in tandem with the burgeoning population. The number of apartments for sale or rent was 13,000 in 2001; as of the first quarter of this year, there are 28,000, according to the Alliance for Downtown New York.
A decade after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the opening of the new One World Trade Center is poised to once again alter the landscape of New York City’s Financial District, but in many ways the real estate changes have already taken shape.
More than 750 companies, and 650,000 jobs, left Lower Manhattan in the first two years following Sept. 11, though the area below Chambers Street made a remarkable comeback and has just 4% fewer workers and about 130 more companies now than it did a decade ago, according to a recent Alliance for Downtown New York report.
Real estate values in New York City’s Financial District have ebbed and flowed since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks a decade ago, but not only has the area recovered it is outperforming other Manhattan neighborhoods.
An exhibit by Brooklyn-based artist Maki Kaoru that was recently installed on fences on Varick and Canal streets will remain there for the next year, the Alliance for Downtown New York announced Friday.
With an eye toward the future instead of the past, what will Downtown look like, not on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, but on the 20th?
By 2014 alone, the Downtown Alliance business improvement district expects an additional 2,546 residential units to come online in lower Manhattan.
And many of those already living Downtown may also contribute to the area’s future growth — 40 percent of childless households plan to have children in the next three years, the Downtown Alliance found in a recent survey.
