Overview

As one of New York City’s oldest neighborhoods, Lower Manhattan is rich with history. Home to Wall Street, South Street Seaport and City Hall, the area is bustling with the energy of downtown New York City. Often referred to as the “Financial Capital of the World,” the area is the 4th largest business district in the country. With its many iconic attractions and cultural institutions, both historic and modern, Lower Manhattan also serves as one of the City’s major tourist attractions. Extensive investment and development in the area is transforming Lower Manhattan into a thriving 24/7 neighborhood with the fastest-growing residential market in the country.

Lower Manhattan provides unparalleled access via the single largest concentration of transit facilities in the world. Transportation amenities include 14 subway lines; 32 bus lines; the PATH Train to New Jersey; ferry service to Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey, and Yonkers; heliport access; and major highways, tunnels and bridges such as Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. With access to a vast inventory of quality commercial office buildings, cultural institutions, restaurants and retail, a diverse mix of tenants, and an extensive transportation network, Lower Manhattan is an ideal location to establish your business.

View the Lower Manhattan Central Business District Summary 

Office Market

With more than 100 million square feet (SF) of commercial office space, nearly 70 million of which is Class A, Lower Manhattan’s office market is roughly equivalent to that of San Francisco and Philadelphia combined.

Several major commercial deals have highlighted the ongoing prominence of Lower Manhattan as a successful location of top firms in finance and media, among other industries. Conde Nast recently completed a letter of intent for 1 million SF at One World Trade Center, and the New York Daily News signed a nearly 1 million SF lease at 4 New York Plaza.  Healthfirst, Inc., who will be moving from another Lower Manhattan location, signed a 20-year lease for 173,000 SF at 100 Church Street and the New York City Pension Fund renewed its 56,000 SF lease at 233 Broadway.

Also noteworthy is one of the newer additions to the Lower Manhattan skyline, 7 World Trade Center, a 52-story 1.7 million SF Class A office building, offering the latest in design and cutting edge technology.  The space includes high profile tenants such as Moody's Corporation, Ameriprise Financial, Arnell Group, and a number of companies that relocated from midtown including WestLB, one of Germany's leading financial institutions; the New York Academy of Sciences; Mansueto Ventures, publisher of Fast Company and Inc. magazines; Kostelanetz & Fink law firm; and Silverstein Properties.

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Available Commercial Incentives

• Commercial Rent Tax (CRT) Savings
• Commercial Revitalization Program (CRP)
• Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program (ICAP)
• Job Creation and Retention Program (JCRP)
• Lower Manhattan Energy Program (LMEP)
• Lower Manhattan Relocation Employment Assistance Program (LM-REAP)
• See www.nyc.gov/businessexpress for more information about incentive programs

Office Market Snapshot¹

Class A Office Space¹

Class B/C Office Space¹

1. Data gathered from CoStar and Cushman & Wakefield Research Services, Marketbeat Manhattan Office Report, 3Q10. 

Retail Market

By 2011, more than 800,000 SF of new retail is expected to open in Lower Manhattan.  Notable retailers like BMW, Hermes, Hickey Freeman, Papyrus, Sephora, and Thomas Pink have opened stores in the area, and Tiffany & Co. has returned to Lower Manhattan, with a store at 37 Wall Street.  The Downtown Alliance manages the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District (BID), serving the area roughly from City Hall to the Battery, from the East River to West Street.  The BID provides supplemental security and sanitation; streetscape, design and transportation services; marketing and enhanced tourism programs; and promotes special events throughout the year. 

The City is making a $68 million investment in Fulton Street, helping to transform the area's only river-to-river corridor into an exciting connector between the redeveloped World Trade Center and South Street Seaport. Retail along Fulton Street continues to make progress as streetscape improvements bring new sidewalks, granite curbs, lighting, and street furniture. City planners are working with Fulton Street building owners to create more unified storefronts and facades on the corridor. In addition, the $535 million redevelopment of the South Ferry subway station has recently been completed, offering residents and tourists enhanced public transportation access to Lower Manhattan.

Lower Manhattan’s retail market is buoyed by steady growth in residential and hotel development and a growing tourist industry. Since 2003, the local residential population increased nearly 85%, from approximately 30,000 to over 55,000. With almost 6 million annual visitors, Lower Manhattan has an 85% occupancy rate for its 3,700 existing hotel rooms with an additional 850 under construction.

Demographics¹

Current Retail Environment²

1. Data gathered from CoStar and Demographics Now
2. Data gathered from CoStar

Who's Here

• Abercrombie & Fitch 
• Century 21 
• Modell’s
• Ann Taylor 
• Coach 
• Pink
• Banana Republic 
• Daffy’s 
• Sephora
• Barnes & Noble 
• Express Staples
• Bed Bath & Beyond 
• GAP 
• Tiffany & Co.
• Border’s Books & Music 
• Hermes 
• Victoria’s Secret
• BMW 
• J. Crew 
• Whole Foods
• Brooks Brothers 
• J&R Music & Computer World

Large Scale Development Activity

One World Trade Center

At center stage of the World Trade Center (“WTC”) site will be One World Trade Center, a building that will soar a symbolic 1,776 feet skyward to become America’s tallest building. Designed by David M. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the 2.9-million-SF building will include office space, an observation deck, world-class restaurants, and broadcast and antennae facilities.

• Use: Commercial / retail
• Status:  Construction

WTC Tower 2 (200 Greenwich Street)

Designed by Foster and Partners, Tower 2 will have 79 stories and will become the second-tallest skyscraper on the WTC site, containing 2.8 million square feet of office space. Tower 2 will rise to 1,270 feet and be topped by an 80-foot antenna.

• Use: Commercial / retail
• Status: Planning

WTC 3 (175 Greenwich Street)

Tower 3, also referred to as 175 Greenwich Street, is designed by Richard Rogers of Rogers Stirk Harbour Partners. The tower will include 2.6 million SF of office space situated at the center of the array of buildings around the memorial.

• Use: Commercial / retail
• Status: Planning

WTC 4 (150 Greenwich Street)

Tower 4 rises 975 feet and is design by Maki and Associates. The 64-story, 2.3 million SF tower is intended to assume a quiet but dignified presence at the site while also serving to enliven the immediate urban environment.

• Use: Commercial / retail
• Status: Construction

World Trade Center Transportation Hub/Path Terminal

The World Trade Center Transportation Hub is envisioned as Lower Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal. The Hub will serve 250,000 daily commuters and will provide enhanced connections to the World Financial Center, Battery Park City, the PATH system, and the new Fulton Street Transit Center.

• Cost: $3.2 billion
• Use: Transportation
• Status: Construction

Fulton Street Transit Center

The MTA’s Fulton Street Transit Center project is under construction and a new northbound platform entrance, including stairways and fare control area, has already opened at Maiden Lane and Broadway. The Transit Center will include 24,000 SF of retail space and will link 12 of the area’s 13 subway lines, serving more than 300,000 riders daily.

• Cost: $1.4 billion
• Use: Transportation
• Status: Construction

Battery Maritime Building

With $60 million in public investment already committed, plans for redevelopment of the Battery Maritime Building include an event/community space, a 70-room boutique hotel, and a rooftop bar and restaurant.

• Cost: $90 million
• Use: Ferry terminal / hotel
• Status:  Planning

East River Esplanade South

The project will create an esplanade with new seating, planting, and lighting, pavilions, and programmed spaces along a 2-mile stretch underneath the FDR, along with a newly reconstructed Pier 15 and improvements to Pier 35.

• Cost: $148 million
• Use: Pedestrian / recreational
• Status: Construction

Financial District Streetscape and Security Improvements

This project will implement comprehensive streetscape and security improvements, while protecting the New York Stock Exchange. Specific improvements include innovative new “turntable” security devices, new sidewalks, an expanded pedestrian space, and interpretive historical markers.

• Cost: $30 million
• Use: Pedestrian / security
• Status: Construction

West Street Promenade

The Promenade project will enhance and revitalize West Street while easing both pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area. Phase I Improvements included several newly landscaped plazas, improved sidewalks, a paved bikeway/walkway, and extensive plantings.  Phase II will include rebuilding and paving roadways, creating a landscaped promenade, widening sidewalks, installing pedestrian crossings, and rebuilding the playgrounds. 

• Cost: $189 million
• Use: Pedestrian
• Status: Complete (Phase I); Construction (Phase II)

Fulton Corridor Revitalization Program

The project will add over 50,000 SF of open space, provide millions in funding for storefront improvements, replace a 150-year-old water main, and implement extensive streetscape improvements.

• Cost: $68 million
• Use: Open Space / recreation / infrastructure / retail
• Status: Construction

South Street Seaport

In 2008 General Growth Properties (now the Howard Hughes Corporation) unveiled an ambitious plan to redevelop the South Street Seaport. The plan calls to revitalize Pier 17 by replacing the existing building with an array of new publicly-accessible open space, retail, hotels, and housing.

• Use: Residential / hotel / recreation / retail
• Status: Planning

Beekman Tower (8 Spruce Street)

Forest City Ratner’s Gehry-designed Beekman Tower, a glass- and titanium-skinned structure, will rise 76 stories and reshape the downtown skyline. Primarily with retail around its base and public plazas on its east and west sides, residential, the tower will also dedicate 100,000 SF to a public school, hospital offices, and an underground parking lot.

• Use: Residential / academic / retail / parking / healthcare
• Status: Construction

Lower Manhattan Map