Financial District

When the neo-Gothic Woolworth Building at 233 Broadway was erected in 1913 as the world’s tallest building, it cost a total of $13.5 million to construct. Though many have surpassed it in height, the instantly-recognizable Lower Manhattan landmark has remained one of the world’s most iconic buildings, admired for its terra cotta facade and detailed ornamentation–and its representation of the ambitious era in which it arose. Developer and five-and-dime store entrepreneur Frank Winfield Woolworth dreamed of an unforgettable skyscraper; the building’s architect, Cass Gilbert, designed and delivered just that, even as Woolworth's vision grew progressively loftier. The Woolworth Building has remained an anchor of New York City life with its storied past and still-impressive 792-foot height.
Find the city's history in the Woolworth Building

$18.3M sustainable playground breaks ground at the Battery

The “bluffs” zone includes five granite slides and boulder scrambles; renderings courtesy of BKSK Architects & Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners

March 13, 2020

$18.3M sustainable playground breaks ground at the Battery

As the threat of climate change grows, parks in New York City are working to become more resilient. Officials on Thursday broke ground on an $18.3 million waterfront playground at the Battery in the Financial District. The Battery Playscape, as it's being called, is expected to be one of the city's largest sustainable parks. It will triple the size of the current playground and will feature a rainwater runoff system and a wide variety of durable plants.
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Developer scraps Bjarke Ingels-designed 2 WTC for revamped Norman Foster tower

Previous rendering of 2 World Center via DBOX, courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

January 16, 2020

Developer scraps Bjarke Ingels-designed 2 WTC for revamped Norman Foster tower

It looks like Norman Foster's design for 2 World Trade Center might rise after all. First unveiled in 2006, the original Foster + Partners proposal was scrapped in 2015 for Bjarke Ingels' stacked tower, which was deemed more suitable to prospective media tenants. After leases with Fox and News Corp. fell through in 2016, the future of the tenant-less tower has remained uncertain. Absent any takers, developer Larry Silverstein is now pivoting back to the Foster vision, the New York Post reports. The old design is being "significantly modified to be more reflective of contemporary needs and taste," Silverstein said.
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Construction of World Trade Center’s St. Nicholas Shrine will resume

The site in December 2018, Photo by Tdorante10 via Wikimedia Commons

January 3, 2020

Construction of World Trade Center’s St. Nicholas Shrine will resume

It's been more than two years since reconstruction work on the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at the World Trade Center stopped due to lack of funding, but the project is finally set to resume. On Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to form a new non-profit organization with an independent 13-member board—the Friends of St. Nicholas—who will oversee the remaining construction. The expected opening is slated for 2022.
More info

New Developments

Photo credit: Travis Mark courtesy of Compass

December 18, 2019

$3.2M FiDi loft stands out behind a historic Palladian window

Asking $3.15 million, this floor-through loft in a beautiful old Lower Manhattan building has the look of a timeless residence in a changing city. More ornate than most and definitely a standout on its block, 42 Ann Street is a landmarked 19th-century commercial building with only seven condominium units within. Spanning 2,700 square feet, the two-bedroom condo has been recently renovated with artfully-designed spaces and luxurious fixtures and finishes.
Tour this timeless condo conversion

Distinctive Homes

Rent this fancy and fully furnished Financial District condo for $5K/month

Photo credit: DDreps, courtesy of Compass

December 5, 2019

Rent this fancy and fully furnished Financial District condo for $5K/month

The 99 John Deco Lofts at 99 John Street in the heart of lower Manhattan's Financial District is one of those FiDi condos where everything is sleek, contemporary and new, and there are so many amenities you hardly have to leave the premises. All of that luxury comes at a price–in this case $4,995 a month–but there's no need to commit to buying. There's also no need to buy (or bring) furniture; it's included with the chic and lofty one-bedroom rental pad. There's plenty of closet space throughout, so whatever you bring can find a home as well.
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

The 9/11 Tribute Museum might be closing its doors

Google Street View of the 9/11 Tribute Museum in October 2017; Map data © Google

November 11, 2019

The 9/11 Tribute Museum might be closing its doors

Google Street View of the 9/11 Tribute Museum in October 2017; Map data © Google The 9/11 Tribute Museum—perhaps “overshadowed” by the better-known Memorial Museum just a few blocks away—might be closing its 92 Greenwich Street location, as Crain’s reports. Real estate investment firm Thor Equities has placed the museum's three-story space on the market for $30 million. It’s not yet clear whether the museum will close down completely or be able to relocate.
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Events & Things To Do

Win tickets to a 6sqft and Untapped Cities’ tour of Woods Bagot’s architecture studio

Photo by James and Karla Murray exclusively for 6sqft

November 8, 2019

Win tickets to a 6sqft and Untapped Cities’ tour of Woods Bagot’s architecture studio

By 6sqft

When designing new workspace in the Financial District, architecture firm Woods Bagot knew they wanted to incorporate a sense of New York City grit. The studio's raw interiors, which look convincingly original, black and white palette, exposed pipes and cracked concrete floors help pull off this aesthetic, while the use of technology and communal space keep things modern. As part of a partnership between 6sqft and Untapped Cities, you can take a behind-the-scenes tour of Woods Bagot studios, the firm behind Union Crossing in the South Bronx and mixed-use tower The Amberly in Downtown Brooklyn. Led by architect Sorrel Anderson, the tour offers lovers of architecture and city planning a chance to learn about the studio's design, test out a virtual reality experience, and ask questions at the end of the evening. Below, enter our raffle for a chance to win two tickets to the tour.
Find out how to enter

The Pinnacle. Rendering: Williams New York.

November 1, 2019

New renderings show $79M penthouse in the Woolworth Building’s famous crown

The residential conversion of the Woolworth Building at 2 Park Place has brought with it a collection of unique condominium residences that take advantage of the iconic tower's architectural features. The jewel in the crown, so to speak, among these trophy properties is The Pinnacle, a 9,680-square-foot home perched 727 feet above New York City in the building's famous crown. This lofty residence spans floors 50 to 58, with a 408-square-foot private observatory terrace. Priced at $79 million–a considerable chop from its original price of $110 million when it first arrived on the market in 2017–the peerless penthouse is being offered as a white box, with award-winning architect David Hotson on board to develop the interior design.
See more possibilities for The Pinnacle

Distinctive Homes

Live in the ‘pavilion’ apartment at the historic Woolworth Building for $30M

Photo of Pavilion A by Travis Mark

October 21, 2019

Live in the ‘pavilion’ apartment at the historic Woolworth Building for $30M

More than 100 years after its construction, the Woolworth Building's transformation into a luxury residential tower is complete. Now, four years after condo sales first launched, there's an opportunity to live in one of the building's most unique residences. Developer Alchemy Properties has listed a 29th-floor five-bedroom, called Pavilion A, for $29.85 million, an asking price roughly $3 million less than when the apartment first listed in May. And while the unit's size and custom features make this apartment special, the setback duplex terrace, which lets you rub elbows with the historic building's stunning terra-cotta exterior, puts it in another league.
See inside

Distinctive Homes

A man wearing a fez selling drinks in Little Syria in the early 1900s (Bain News Service, 1916), via Wiki Commons/Library of Congress

September 19, 2019

GIVEAWAY: Win a pair of tickets to MAS’ walking tour of the lost ‘Lower West Side’

By 6sqft

The Lower West Side is not a common neighborhood name used, mainly because much of what made this enclave notable has since been forgotten. As 6sqft previously explained, "encompassing the area west of Broadway from Liberty Street to Battery Place, it was originally home to Irish and German immigrants, followed by Little Syria, the nation’s first and largest Arabic settlement, from roughly the 1880s to 1940s." The neighborhood all but disappeared during the construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and World Trade Center, but several vestiges and stories remain, which will be explored in a walking tour on October 6th with historian Joe Svehlak for the Municipal Art Society.
Enter to win a pair of tickets!

Events & Things To Do

Via Wikimedia

September 6, 2019

WTC Oculus skylight won’t open this year during 9/11 commemoration due to leak

The skylight atop the $3.9 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub Oculus won't open this year on September 11, according to the Port Authority. It was announced this week that the skylight–comprised of 224 panes of glass on 40 motorized panels designed by Spanish starchitect Santiago Calatrava–has a leaking problem and will remain closed for this year's anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The skylight was intended to open and close, releasing a beam of light into the Oculus space at precisely 10:28 A.M. each year to mark the moment the north tower of the World Trade Center fell.
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Thousands of Lower Manhattan tenants may be owed six years’ worth of back rent

Via Flickr

August 12, 2019

Thousands of Lower Manhattan tenants may be owed six years’ worth of back rent

In June, the state's Court of Appeals found that apartments at two Lower Manhattan buildings had been unlawfully deregulated by landlords who had collected millions of dollars in benefits under a 1995 tax program. Now, as The City reports, thousands of former or current tenants in the area may be owed up to six years in back rent from landlords who received the tax breaks for years.
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Camp for free under the stars in The Battery

Photo courtesy of the Battery Conservancy

August 1, 2019

Camp for free under the stars in The Battery

It's your chance to have a free quintessential summer experience, albeit not typical a New York City one. The Battery Conservancy on Thursday will open a lottery for free tickets to camp at the historic 25-acre public park. As part of the Battery CampOut, families are provided with tents, campfire singalongs, s'mores, and a lightning bug show. But remember to bring your own sleeping bag.
Find out how to enter

Events & Things To Do

As plans for 5 WTC push forward, long-time FiDi residents seek more involvement in the process

Image via Flickr

July 15, 2019

As plans for 5 WTC push forward, long-time FiDi residents seek more involvement in the process

Last month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo put out a request for proposals for 5 World Trade Center, the last remaining site at World Trade Center’s southern end and the former home of a Deutsche Bank Building that was severely damaged during the September 11 attacks. The RFP seeks commercial or mixed-use proposals for a roughly 900-foot-tall building, that may include a residential component. As the process continues to unfold—and rapidly, with a site tour for interested developers scheduled on July 22—local residents worry that their voices are being left out, as Daily News reported.
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“Gertrude Ederle Parade,” 1926, via Wikimedia Commons

July 10, 2019

From the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team: A history of NYC’s ticker-tape parades

By Lucie Levine

When the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team walks along the Canyon of Heroes from Broadway up to City Hall today in the city’s 207th official Ticker-Tape Parade, they will be in good company. For more than 120 years, politicians, aviators, adventurers, generals, and sports teams have been showered with felicitations and falling office paper. But this beloved tradition actually originated spontaneously on October 28, 1886, when Wall Streeters began throwing ticker-tape out their office windows as an enraptured public marched down Broadway to the Battery to celebrate the dedication of “Liberty Enlightening the World,” or the Statue of Liberty as we know her. Ahead, learn the entire history of Ticker-Tape Parades in NYC, from George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt to Jesse Owens and Joe DiMaggio.
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History

Developer Silverstein Properties funds a new artist residency at 3 World Trade Center

Images courtesy of Silver Art Projects

July 5, 2019

Developer Silverstein Properties funds a new artist residency at 3 World Trade Center

As rents and costs of living continue to rise in the city, artists have an increasingly hard time finding affordable studio space—particularly in Manhattan. In an effort to help struggling artists, a new artist residency is launching at 3 World Trade Center this fall. Funded by developer Silverstein Properties, Silver Art Projects is a “corporate social responsibility initiative” that will host 30 artists every September for up to eight months, providing them with 44,000 square feet of free studio space on the 50th floor of the building.
More details

Cuomo releases RFP for 5 World Trade Center, may include 900-foot tower and affordable housing

Image via flickr cc

June 26, 2019

Cuomo releases RFP for 5 World Trade Center, may include 900-foot tower and affordable housing

Earlier this month, the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation arrived at a deal to release a request for proposals for the development of 5 World Trade Center, Crain's reported. The two state agencies had been locked in negotiations over how to develop the last site, which lies at the World Trade Center's southernmost end, surrounded by Washington, Albany and Greenwich streets, for years; as a result, the site has remained in limbo. Today, Governor Cuomo officially released a Request for Proposals for the site, which allows for either commercial or mixed-use proposals for a roughly 900-foot-tall building. Any proposals putting forth a residential component must include "onsite affordable units that comply with New York City's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program," according to a press release.
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MAP: Where to watch the 2019 4th of July fireworks

All map images courtesy of Macy’s

June 25, 2019

MAP: Where to watch the 2019 4th of July fireworks

The talented folks behind the hotly anticipated Macy’s Fourth of July live fireworks spectacular happening next Thursday evening have provided a detailed guide to the prime Manhattan spots for watching the night sky light up. Read on to get the scoop on official viewing points–and some unofficial favorites–and use the interactive map to make sure you’re in the right place when the pyrotechnics start at the Brooklyn Bridge.
More top viewing spots

Events & Things To Do

Via Wikimedia

June 10, 2019

Leaking skylight of World Trade Center’s Oculus may not be fixed for 9/11 anniversary

Since 2016, the skylight of the World Trade Center's Oculus has reopened on each anniversary of September 11 as part of the "Way of Light" ceremony. But the annual event may not happen this year. The skylight, which has been leaking since last fall, may not be repaired in time for this year's anniversary, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
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Uncategorized

Preservationists call for landmarking of Little Syria vestiges in Lower Manhattan

A man wearing a fez selling drinks in Little Syria in the early 1900s, via Wiki Commons

June 5, 2019

Preservationists call for landmarking of Little Syria vestiges in Lower Manhattan

By Lucie Levine

Three structures on Lower Manhattan's Washington Street--St. George's Syrian Catholic Church at 103 Washington Street, The Downtown Community House at 105-107 Washington Street, and the block's sole surviving tenement at 109 Washington Street--are the last standing architectural vestiges of the once-thriving community of Little Syria. The area served as home to immigrants from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Moravia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Ukraine, Germany and Ireland that flourished on the Lower West Side in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries. Before that surviving history is lost, local preservationists are calling for the structures to become part of a mini historic district, citing a "landmarks emergency."
Get the scoop

New 9/11 memorial honoring rescue and recovery workers opens at World Trade Center

Photo by Monika Graff for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum

June 3, 2019

New 9/11 memorial honoring rescue and recovery workers opens at World Trade Center

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum's new monument honoring first responders opened Thursday, on the 17th anniversary of the official end of the recovery effort at Ground Zero. The 9/11 Memorial Glade monument recognizes first responders who are currently sick or who have died from illnesses caused by toxins following the September 11 attacks. Located at the World Trade Center site, the memorial consists of six stone monoliths that point skyward to "symbolize strength and determination through adversity."
See it here

From George Washington to war bonds: The revolutionary history of Fraunces Tavern

Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York outside 54 Pearl Street on opening day. Taken from Broad Street facing east. 1907. From the archives at Fraunces Tavern Museum. Courtesy of the Fraunces Tavern Museum

May 29, 2019

From George Washington to war bonds: The revolutionary history of Fraunces Tavern

By Lucie Levine

Fraunces Tavern is breaking out the champagne this year to celebrate its 300th birthday. Called "the oldest standing structure in Manhattan," the building you see today at the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets owes much to 20th-century reconstruction and restoration, but the site has a storied and stately past. In fact, any toasts delivered to mark the Tavern's tri-centennial will have to stack up against George Washington's farewell toast to his officers, delivered in the Tavern's Long Room, on December 4, 1783. Named for Samuel Fraunces, the patriot, spy, steward, and gourmand, who turned the old De Lancey Mansion at 54 Pearl Street into 18th century New York’s hottest watering hole, Fraunces Tavern connects New York’s proud immigrant history with its Dutch past, Revolutionary glory, maritime heritage, and continuous culinary prowess. Dive into the building’s unparalleled past and discover secrets and statesmen, murder and merriment – all served up alongside oysters as big as your face.
Learn the whole history

History

David Adjaye’s first NYC skyscraper in FiDi tops out at 800 feet

Photo by Chris Coe for Optimist Consulting

May 16, 2019

David Adjaye’s first NYC skyscraper in FiDi tops out at 800 feet

Construction at 130 William Street, starchitect David Adjaye’s first skyscraper in New York City, topped out at 800 feet this week. The 66-story tower is making its mark on the Financial District with its hand-cast façade featuring large-scale arched windows and bronze detailing. When complete, it will house 242 residences ranging from $1,300,000 for a one-bedroom to $20,000,000 for a four-bedroom, full-floor penthouse. According to developer Lightstone, there was enormous interest in the units as soon as sales launched less than a year ago, and the tower has since become one of the city’s best-selling condos.
More info and views

Renderings courtesy of Binyan Studios

May 13, 2019

FXCollaborative’s skinny FiDi school-condo tower reveals new looks and launches sales

Sales at Trinity Place Holding’s new condominium tower at 77 Greenwich Street have officially launched, and a new batch of renderings are offering us a look inside the elegant residences. Designed by FXCollaborative, the 42-story high-rise will comprise 90 residential units on top of a new public elementary school. Though it hasn’t topped out yet, the finished building will hit 500 feet in height. The residences begin on the 15th floor and will feature sprawling river views with prices starting at $1,780,000 for a one-bedroom unit.
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Via Wikimedia

May 13, 2019

The $32M skylight of the World Trade Center’s Oculus is leaking