Five Principles for Greenwich South

The Name Of The Section
FIVE
PRINCIPLES
FOR
GREENWICH
SOUTH
A Model for
Lower Manhattan
The Alliance For Downtown NewYork
page
The Name Of The Section
Five Principles for Greenwich South
sets forth the Downtown Alliance’s
point of view about what could
and should happen in Greenwich
South. The objective is to achieve
a dense, vibrant and diverse urban
realm. Unlike a traditional master
plan, these principles are not highly
prescriptive, but rather usefully
adaptive: they can respond to and
inform evolving interests and market
conditions over the next half-century.
World Trade
Center
Battery Park
City
Greenwich
South
This document has the following goals:
Define a compelling vision for the future
of Greenwich South
Financial
District
Establish key planning concepts to
guide future development, both public
and private
Identify a list of opportunities to
achieve this vision over the short- and
long-term
Battery
Park
Influence public policy decisions that
are critical to realizing the vision for
Greenwich South’s future
4 - GREENWICH SOUTH
ork, NY 10006
page
Five Principles for Greenwich South
scale
1" = 200'
Beyer Blinder Belle
170 Varick Street
7th floor
New York NY 10013
T 212.675.1870
OPEN
Contents
page 3
Principle 1
Encourage an Intense Mix of Uses
page 9 Principle 2
Reconnect Greenwich Street
page 15 Principle 3
Connect East and West
page 21 Principle 4
Build for Density, Design for People
page 27 Principle 5
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
Create a Reason to Come and
a Reason to Stay
page 1
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The Name Of The Section
Principle 1
Encourage
an Intense Mix
of Uses
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
The 21st-century central business district embraces
a robust mix of uses — commercial, residential, retail
and tourism — as the key to both economic vitality
and environmental sustainability.
This mix of uses is happening organically
in Lower Manhattan. Greenwich South provides
the city’s greatest opportunity to experiment
with how best to integrate these different uses and
cultivate a growing and dynamic economy.
The goal is to realize the potential synergies that
can come from efficiently managing an intensely
mixed-use environment.
page 3
Encourage an Intense Mix of Uses
work
live
play
Lower Manhattan serves a diverse community of workers, residents and visitors
1A
Foster the growth of
a diverse economy.
The financial services industry should
and will remain the lifeblood of Lower
Manhattan’s economy. To remain
competitive, however, the district
must support a wide range of businesses. This process is already underway: publishing, architecture, design
and advertising offices are among the
more than 200 firms that have relocated to Lower Manhattan since 9/11.
The mix of industries has benefits
beyond protecting the real estate
market against cyclical downturns.
Diversity of businesses within a dense
commercial district allows for the
unscripted collaboration that can spur
innovation and economic growth. To
achieve this, Greenwich South needs
to provide the basic amenities that
support business, like ample lunch
spots and access to taxi service. It also
needs to offer such amenities as parking for bicycle commuters, co-working
Five Principles for Greenwich South
spaces and public WiFi, which appeal
to a diverse and creative workforce.
Just as a mix of business types can
support a more dynamic economy,
so too can a mix of users — residents,
artists, tourists and workers — foster
a more engaging and vibrant atmosphere. Future development in
Greenwich South should not be
limited to a single use such as housing
or big office towers, but should instead
acknowledge all of the uses that contribute to the growing richness of the
Downtown economy. Creating space
for artists to work, and for their work
to be seen from those on the street, is
another way both to diversify the economy and activate the public realm.
Adding green commercial spaces with
floor plates sized for smaller tenants
can complement the large corporate
office towers being built to the north.
Opportunities
Incorporate WiFi into public spaces
Create a “Green Exchange” trading floor
for emerging green economy businesses
Create new spaces or reprogram
older office space as co-working, live/
work or incubators, which attract and
accommodate diverse business sectors
Install artist workspaces in the bases of
new towers and vacant office spaces
Install bike racks throughout
Greenwich South
page 4
Robert Caplin/The New York Times/Redux
Encourage an Intense Mix of Uses
Downtown has become a vibrant and diverse community
Create a neighborhood
within a business district.
In the 1990s, the Downtown Alliance
advocated for the integration of residents into the CBD as part of a strategy to repurpose outdated office stock
and transform Lower Manhattan from
a business-only district to a dynamic
live-work community.
Since the Downtown Alliance
began operation in 1995, the population below Chambers Street has
tripled, but the rate of residential
growth outpaced the development of
traditional amenities.
This disparity is most prevalent
in Greenwich South, where 5,000
residents live primarily in converted
office buildings. Although the area has
not struggled to attract residents, it
has yet to define itself as a distinctive
“neighborhood,” one simultaneously
independent from and completely
integrated into the surrounding commercial district. This means achieving a fully-functioning residential
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
environment with services, amenities
and open spaces that are the
standard in other city neighborhoods. A manifest neighborhood in
Greenwich South might also emerge
through design and programming
of the public realm — perhaps with
a community garden, a brunch café
or an annual block party — to acknowledge residential life in ways that
make the environment welcoming,
personal and familiar.
Transform Washington Street
into a “shared street” with programmed
public events
Create a neighborhood icon that can be
a meeting place or “North Star”
Convert the existing West Street
Garage into a public facility with
recreation fields on the roof
Opportunities
Launch a retail attraction campaign to
bring more residentially focuses services
and amenities
create a community garden and start
a Greenwich South garden club
start an annual Greenwich South
block party
Incentivize development projects to
provide community resources such as
sports and fitness facilities, schools,
artists’ studios, libraries and playgrounds
page 5
architecture research office
1B
Encourage an Intense Mix of Uses
An idea for the re-use of the Battery Parking Garage, including a proposal for anarobic composting
by Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects and Transsolar Climate Engineering
Address sustainability
on multiple scales
to support a highperformance CBD.
With millions of square feet of LEEDcertified development in the pipeline,
excellent walkability and superior
transit access, Lower Manhattan is
one of the greenest CBDs in the world.
To remain ahead of the curve, Lower
Manhattan must continually innovate
to achieve new levels of environmental
sustainability.
Government, planners, architects
and real estate developers are pioneering policies and technologies that
address sustainability at the building
level. The density, diversity of use and
significant development potential in
Greenwich South offer a rare opportunity to experiment with sustainability
solutions on a district-wide scale. For
example, the evolving residential /
commercial mix in Greenwich South
provides potential opportunities to
Five Principles for Greenwich South
exploit the varied schedules of home
life and office work to better balance
demands on the power grid. And
streamlining service protocols might
improve the integration of residential
and commercial trash collection.
As Greenwich South becomes
increasingly dense and mixed-use,
there will be ever more opportunities — and a growing mandate — to develop creative solutions for
achieving environmental sustainability
in the existing built environment.
The lessons learned can serve
as models for other mixed-use districts
throughout NewYork, and across
the country.
Opportunities
Design district-wide pilot systems for
heating and cooling that capitalize on
alternating cycles of residential and
commercial peak power demand
Work with energy providers to develop
an efficient energy system or “Smart Grid”
for Greenwich South
Create a district-wide green roof
incentive program
Upgrade the energy efficiency of existing
buildings, including more efficient
windows and daylighting
Implement grey-water collection
systems for building wastewater
Explore widespread use of natural gas
micro-turbines and co-generation to
drastically reduce energy consumption
and carbon emissions
DESIGN AND INSTALL carbon filtration
modules to clean the air and collect
solar energy
Design a district-wide pilot storm water
management initiative that includes
rainwater harvesting, biofiltration and
reuse for landscaping irrigation
page 6
coen + partners
1C
Encourage an Intense Mix of Uses
A vision of Greenwich South’s “utopian future,” including green roofs designed for wildlife habitats
and artificial wetlands biogas processing, planted streets with permeable paving and all buildings operating to passive house standards
by Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects and Transsolar Climate Engineering
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
page 7
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Principle 2
Reconnect
Greenwich Street
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
Name of
Principal
The restoration of Greenwich Street through
the World Trade Center provides a tremendous
opportunity to renew Greenwich South by
rejoining it to the rest of the city and establishing it
as the base of the emerging Lower West Side, made
up of Tribeca, Hudson Square, the West Village,
the Meatpacking District and Chelsea.
A restored Greenwich Street can join Fulton
Street and what will be an engaging promenade
along the East River waterfront to create a loop
of activity in Lower Manhattan.
page 9
Reconnect Greenwich Street
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FINANCIAL DISTRICT
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GREENWICH SOUTH
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Washington Square
Park
BATTERY PARK CITY
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et
TRIBECA
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HUDSON SQUARE
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MEATPACKING
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CHELSEA
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Columbus
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James J. Walker
Park
Thomas Paine
Park
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ich
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John Dulery
Plaza
City Hall
Park
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hudson river
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Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park
Brooklyn-Battery
Tunnel
WHITNEY MUSEUM
CHELSEA PIERS HIGH LINE
PIER 40
HUDSON RIVER PARK
WORLD TRADE CENTER
BATTERY PARK
An idea for a sustainable transit line running along a reconnected Greenwich Street and connecting Greenwich South to the High Line,
by Beyer Blinder Belle
2A
Restore Greenwich
Street from the Battery
through the World Trade
Center to maximize
the flow of people into
Greenwich South.
Two hundred years ago, Greenwich
Street was the main road linking
the mansions and farms of Lower
Manhattan to Greenwich Village.
The development of the World Trade
Center in the 1960s split Greenwich
Street in two, which severed
Greenwich South from the rest of
Manhattan. The completion of the
World Trade Center site redevelopment will reinstate Greenwich Street,
connecting Greenwich South to
Tribeca and creating a new pedestrian
path from Battery Park to the 9/11
Memorial and on to the High Line.
It is anticipated that millions
of people will visit the World Trade
Center each year. Overly stringent
Five Principles for Greenwich South
security protocols at the World Trade
Center could thwart movement
into Greenwich South. The priority
should be to offset security measures
by building strong psychological and
visual connections along Greenwich
Street — including streetscape elements and a signage and wayfinding
system that integrates Greenwich
Street north and south of the World
Trade Center site. Another way to
overcome the obstacles imposed by
security might be to create a new
transit link, with pre-screened vehicles
taking passengers from the Battery to
the High Line and all of the thriving
neighborhoods in between. These
measures would help to reinforce the
use of Greenwich Street as the main
conduit into Greenwich South,
providing a powerful catalyst for the
area’s economic development.
Design security measures that are
compatible with pedestrian and vehicle
flow between the World Trade Center and
Greenwich South
Design and implement a new
sustainable public transportation route
linking the Battery to Tribeca and the High
Line along Greenwich Street
Redesign sidewalks, landscaping and
crosswalks along Greenwich Street to
mirror Tribeca’s “Greening of Greenwich”
program
Implement way-finding to orient people
from the World Trade Center site and along
Greenwich Street into Greenwich South
Reconnect Greenwich Street between
Morris and Edgar Streets
Opportunities
Advocate for vehicular access
through the World Trade Center along
Greenwich Street
page 10
Reconnect Greenwich Street
CHELSEA
THE HIGH LINE
MEATPACKING DISTRICT
WEST VILLAGE
HUDSON SQUARE
WTC
GREENWICH SOUTH
BATTERY PARK
Greenwich South envisioned as the spine of New York’s Lower West Side
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
page 11
Reconnect Greenwich Street
An idea for a landscape installation at the base of Greenwich Street by Coen + Partners
2B
Opportunities
Create a gateway to
Manhattan at the base
of Greenwich South.
Coordinate with streetscape, signage
and lighting design of Battery Park to lead
pedestrians to and from Greenwich Street
Numerous visitor attractions, residential buildings and commuter transit
nodes draw thousands of people to the
Battery each day. This concentration
of activity, combined with the redevelopment of Battery Park and the reconnections along Greenwich Street,
creates an opportunity to make the
base of Greenwich South a gateway to
the city. New architectural, landscape,
streetscape, retail and traffic designs
can work together to make the base of
Greenwich Street an iconic, welcoming point of entry into the district and
to the rest of Downtown.
Five Principles for Greenwich South
CAPITALIZE on existing and planned
attractions and transportation
infrastructure
Establish a Lower Manhattan
information kiosk at the base of
Greenwich Street
Make improvements to the base of
Greenwich Street including plantings and
lighting, starting with small efforts and
adding to them over time
Integrate the concept of “it all starts
here” into a new branding strategy
page 12
Reconnect Greenwich Street
A vision of Greenwich Street as the
spine of activity in Greenwich South
by artist Jorge Colombo
2C
Make Greenwich
Street the spine of
Greenwich South.
Locate major programmatic elements
on Greenwich Street including arts and
entertainment venues and public space
Create a sidewalk cafe district
Modify zoning to enable the creation
of pocket parks along Greenwich Street
and improve streetscape with plantings
and new street furniture
Opportunities
WORLD TRADE
CENTER SITE
WORK
Work
Park
Repurpose ground floor spaces
facing Greenwich Street as retail,
restaurants, entertainment venues
and other public uses
EAT
Eat Out
Park
Commute
Park
DISPERSE
SHOP
Capitalize on the new market
of WTC workers to attract retailers
and restaurants that service the
business community
PLAY
W IC H S
T.
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
Create a spine of public art on
Greenwich Street such as a series
of large-scale sculptures
G REEN
Once reconnected through the
World Trade Center, Greenwich
Street will again be a main northsouth route through Lower
Manhattan, creating a new hierarchy
among Lower Manhattan’s northsouth streets. Greenwich Street can
even become a new kind of spine for
Lower Manhattan, a more intimate
alternative for people moving between
Battery Park and the World Trade
Center than the grand but often saturated Broadway.
Today, buildings shun the severed
Greenwich Street. Restored connectivity will provide impetus for future
buildings and redevelopment projects to acknowledge and engage with
Greenwich Street.
The whole of Greenwich South
should be organized around this new
connecting spine to capture the
market demand of the thousands
of workers and visitors at the World
Trade Center. Greenwich Street is the
obvious locus for programs and activities — restaurants, cultural programs,
shopping and public spaces — to serve
the area’s many users. These new
programs and spaces can strengthen
Greenwich Street as the spine of the
district — the central means of northsouth circulation and the primary
destination for economic and pedestrian activity.
Commission temporary arts
installations in vacant spaces
BATTERY
PARK
page 13
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Principle 3
Connect East
and West
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
Greenwich South should be the lynchpin for
Lower Manhattan, yet it is defined by seemingly
impenetrable borders that make passage difficult.
Softening these hard edges and improving the
east-west connection from Battery Park City to the
Financial District will integrate Greenwich South
into Lower Manhattan and begin to dissolve the
barriers between these adjacent neighborhoods.
page 15
Connect East and West
Major vehicular traffic limits pedestrian
1
movement across West Street.
Five key points can be identified for improved
pedestrian crossing:
2
1 Liberty Street Crossing
(Elevated)
2 Albany Street Crossing
(At Grade)
3 West Thames Street Bridge
3
(Elevated)
4 Morris Street Crossing
(At Grade)
5 Battery Place Crossing
4
(At Grade)
5
3A
Strengthen east-west
connections and
commuter corridors,
starting at West Street.
West Street, an eight-lane highway,
is a prominent barrier that definitively divides Battery Park City from
Greenwich South. It is the most
significant obstacle to uniting Lower
Manhattan. Crossing West Street is
hazardous, difficult and unpleasant
due to the width of the street and the
speed of traffic. These conditions
make it awkward for residents of
Battery Park City to access Greenwich
South, and impede NewYorkers and
tourists hoping to enjoy the Hudson
River Waterfront.
The long-term goal must be to
create many options for crossing
West Street safely, pleasantly and
conveniently. A new bridge, like the
one planned at West Thames Street,
is an important step towards improving connectivity from Battery Park
Five Principles for Greenwich South
City. More steps, however, are needed
to ameliorate fully the challenges of
crossing West Street. Improvements to
at-grade crossings can balance out the
role of bridges, decrease the importance of each individual intersection
and encourage a more even distribution of pedestrian flow.
In addition to addressing West
Street’s physical barriers, efforts
should also be made to mitigate the
image of the street as a psychological
barrier to Greenwich South.
The east side of West Street is visible
from Battery Park City, yet, because
the street wall is blank, the view is
uninviting. The traffic, streetscape and
retail environment along the eastern
edge of West Street make it unappealing to pedestrians.
Within Greenwich South, the
difficulty in moving east to west is
compounded by the lack of through
streets and narrow sidewalks. The
east-west route across Edgar Street
and Exchange Alley, used by thousands of Battery Park City residents
every morning, is especially deficient. Thousands of pedestrians cut
through the parking garage, despite
its being both unsafe and unpleasant.
Furthermore, the route across the
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach is
indirect and the existing bridge needs
improvement. Rector Street is the only
east-west through street for cars and
pedestrians, but narrow sidewalks and
unsafe intersections create hazardous conditions and impede auto and
pedestrian traffic. Planning, building
and landscape initiatives are required
to redefine these corridors and
strengthen the east-west experience
through Greenwich South.
page 16
Connect East and West
An idea for a reconnected Edgar Street between Greenwich and West Streets as envisioned by IwamotoScott Architecture
Opportunities
Build a bridge over West Street from West
Thames to JP Ward Street
Use traffic-calming measures to reduce
speed of traffic along West Street
Increase the number and ease of atgrade crossings at West Street
Build a new bridge over the tunnel
approach to realign Morris Street
Build an Olmsted-inspired land bridge
across West Street
Create a unified way-finding system for
West Street, Greenwich South and the
World Trade Center
widen the sidewalk and add landscaping
to the streetscape to improve the
pedestrian environment along the east
side of West Street
architecture research office
Redesign streetscape on Rector Street
to reinforce its function as a primary
pedestrian route
Commission a graphic design,
landscape and/or arts installation at
Edgar Street crosswalk and through the
MTA garage to improve the commuter
corridor in the short-term
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
page 17
Connect East and West
An idea for an art installation in Exchange
An idea for a sustainable pedestrian-oriented street on Carlisle Street
Alley by artist DeWitt Godfrey
by Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects and Transsolar Climate Engineering
3B
Opportunities
Reprogram side streets
as magnets of activity.
Embed one side-street with water and
energy infrastructure to support markets
and other seasonal activities and events
Many side streets in Greenwich South
are blank, narrow and steep. This uninviting character discourages pedestrian
flow into the site from Broadway. The
desolate spaces do not offer engaging
uses or activities. Redesigning and/
or reprogramming these side streets
could turn a negative aspect of the
district into a positive one by inviting
transverse movement across the site.
It could also create a diverse set of
spaces and activities for residents,
workers and visitors to explore. By
capitalizing on the intimate scale, each
of these streets could take on a particular character — and create places to
be “discovered” in the neighborhood.
One location might house a desirable lunchtime food court similar to
Stone Street on the east side of Lower
Manhattan, while another could be the
site of a rotating public art installation
and a third filled with inviting street
furniture and a free WiFi zone.
Enhance the pedestrian route defined
by Edgar Street by providing stronger
midblock passage through a reconfigured
ground floor of the former American Stock
Exchange building
Five Principles for Greenwich South
Create a flexible outdoor food court
with mobile kiosks and outdoor seating
Designate Exchange Alley as a long-term
site for rotating site-specific installations
Donate side streets to a rotating list of
local arts- and community- organizations
one day every weekend
Create pocket parks that drive activity to
underused streets
page 18
Connect East and West
Strategically located art and architecture can help turn Greenwich South from a void into a magnet.
A Jeff Koons Puppy sculpture, as seen from Morris Street, is envisioned in a new public park atop the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach
Create visual
connections from
the outside in and
inside out.
When the World Trade Center was
destroyed, Lower Manhattan lost its
“North Star.” Despite its proximity
to those notable towers, the location
of Greenwich South was never wellknown to most NewYorkers.
Upon completion, One WTC
will be the most visible landmark in
Lower Manhattan. It is important
for Greenwich South to build off
this renewed visibility and cultivate its own iconic skyline image.
Strategically designed buildings and
well-positioned artwork can provide
eye-catching glimpses from outside
Greenwich South — facilitating
way-finding and drawing people into
the neighborhood.
These same design initiatives
should also strengthen sightlines from
inside Greenwich South, enhancing
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
views to the water and to the World
Trade Center. View corridors along
narrow side streets can become ideal
vantage points to attract pedestrians along a path of exploration and
discovery. Public art, landscape, street
furniture and building facades can all
enhance the pedestrian environment
and reinforce continuous connectivity through a previously undiscovered
neighborhood.
drawing people into the interior
of Greenwich South
Target and incentivize potential
developers and investors to build iconic,
visible buildings that define Greenwich
South in the composition of Lower
Manhattan’s distinctive skyline
Locate eye-catching architecture
to establish a presence in the Lower
Manhattan skyline
Opportunities
Use decking or green roofs to
establish upper level public spaces
and create river views
Curate temporary art at strategic
locations within the district to
attract visitors
Create design guidelines that enhance
pedestrian view corridors and encourage
developers to follow those guidelines in
new or redevelopment projects
Commission permanent public artworks
that are highly visible from side streets
and points beyond the district,
page 19
WORKAC
3C
CORTLANDT STREET
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Principle 4
Build for Density,
Design for People
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
With the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach
and numerous under-built properties, Greenwich
South offers millions of square feet of latent
development potential that are key to Lower
Manhattan’s long-term growth and vibrancy.
The challenge is finding a creative way to unlock
that potential and to support Lower Manhattan’s
ongoing evolution as a globally competitive
business district.
Future development in Greenwich South
also presents an opportunity to define a more
welcoming, engaging pedestrian environment,
with building design and programming that blurs
the edges between public and private realm.
A more densely-built Greenwich South will also
require new infrastructure, the form and function
of which must be compatible with an intenselyused pedestrian environment.
page 21
Build for Density, Design for People
In the future, Greenwich South can follow a new set of sustainable, mixed-use guidelines to match the rest of Lower Manhattan’s density,
providing a rare opportunity for growth downtown
4A
Enable dense, largescale development.
Millions of square feet of unused
development capacity reside in
Greenwich South, and there are multiple sites for future large-scale development. The redeveloped World Trade
Center will reinforce a taller scale for
the district, and, even before completion, will catalyze a broad transformation throughout Lower Manhattan.
The market might not be ready
yet for additional new development,
but future market cycles will
provide the impetus for building out
Greenwich South. This future development should be contextually compatible with the areas that surround
the World Trade Center, on a scale
comparable to the World Financial
Center and the Wall Street corridor.
A coherent strategy is necessary
to ensure that future development
in Greenwich South furthers Lower
Manhattan’s primary function as a
business district, creates a mix of uses,
Five Principles for Greenwich South
and enhances the Lower Manhattan
skyline. New towers that mix commercial and hospitality uses in the
northern part of Greenwich South for
example, might complement towers
with residential, retail, restaurants and
cultural venues toward the south.
Development in Greenwich South
should follow massing criteria that
allows for density and height but
also creates an appealing pedestrian
environment, avoiding forbidding
canyons and maintaining views and
light. Such high-density development,
easily walkable and served by excellent transit access, is also inherently
sustainable.
Identify sites of appropriate size and
location for commercial development
Redefine tower height, massing and
dispersal to avoid the canyon effect and to
capture views, light and space
Encourage new residential units of
varying types throughout the district
Emulate Hong Kong’s zoning
strategies to create generous bonuses
based on publicly-programmed
building bases
Opportunities
Create a special zoning district for
Greenwich South to allow the transfer
of air rights from the Brooklyn-Battery
Tunnel and historic buildings across
the entire district
page 22
Build for Density, Design for People
With new development, the lower floors of specific buildings could be strategically designed and programmed for public use,
transforming the public realm
Encourage active
building bases that
foster a rich pedestrian
experience.
While tall new towers will someday
define the skyline of Greenwich South,
the most critical component of the
area’s new developments will be how
these buildings meet the ground.
Building design should be architecturally dynamic, offering energetic bases
with a varying array of public-oriented
uses including retail, cultural and
community functions. Such design
and use criteria for Greenwich South
can create a more engaging atmosphere on the street without sacrificing
density. This programmatic differentiation between base and tower would
be an evolution of the area’s building
typology, expanding the public realm
in Greenwich South and encouraging large-scale development. Zoning
codes can be amended to encourage the creation of public spaces in
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
building bases and on upper floors
and roofs. New and inventive building designs should seek to address the
pedestrian, not only at street level,
but in the interstitial spaces created
by changes in topography across
Greenwich South. Similarly, engaging
new experiences can be imagined as
architecturally significant and historic
structures are repurposed for exciting
new public and private uses.
Opportunities
Create design guidelines to correspond
with streets that encourage active ground
floor use by design in Greenwich South
Encourage inventive yet contextual
design interventions as a valid method of
preservation and reuse of architecturally
significant buildings
Create new storefront and cultural
spaces in existing buildings, such as the
former American Stock Exchange building
Incentivize the inclusion of cultural and
public programming above street level
Develop design guidelines to expand
the public realm into building bases, and
coordinate with streetscape to create an
immersive pedestrian experience
Create intensity of public-oriented
activity in building bases
Establish a fine grain of continuous and
engaging public-oriented activity at the
street level
Explore opportunities to adaptively
reuse historic buildings that enhance
development potential
page 23
BEYER BLINDER BELLE
4B
Build for Density, Design for People
The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach site holds the potential for over three million square feet of transferable development rights —
these could be redistributed throughout the neighborhood with the creation of a special zoning district
100
200
300 ft
4C
Leverage the air
rights of the BrooklynBattery Tunnel site
to turn an urban void
into a positive space.
The single greatest challenge for
Greenwich South is resolving the
void and barrier created by the
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach.
The redevelopment of the tunnel
approach and parking garages also
provides the greatest opportunity
to transform Greenwich South.
Given a favorable market environment, there are several strategies that
could unlock the approximately three
million square feet of development
rights associated with the tunnel
approach and the garages. One option
would be to use one or both of the
garages as the site of an office building
or multiple mixed-use towers.
This option could include decking
the tunnel approach to generate
additional air rights and creating
Five Principles for Greenwich South
a public use on the deck. Another
option might be to create a special
zoning district where the air rights
from the tunnel site could be used anywhere within Greenwich South.
Any future development should
reestablish a legible street grid,
connecting Edgar Street from
Washington to Trinity Place and
reconnecting Greenwich Street
between Edgar and Battery Place.
Development of the tunnel site
should also create a major open space
along Greenwich Street, the new
spine of the Greenwich South district.
new public amenities and additional
large-scale developments
Plan for a rich texture of public
spaces incorporating varying scales,
uses, degrees of accessibility, intensity
of activity and implied meaning
Clean the air over the tunnel entrance
using both naturally occurring and
technologically-advanced filtration
tactics
Opportunities
Undertake a study of the complex
issues surrounding the zoning, structural
engineering and financial feasibility
of a deck over the Brooklyn-Battery
Tunnel approach
Present an ambitious plan for the
tunnel site
Create a Greenwich South zoning
district, within which air rights
could be redistributed to achieve
page 24
Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects and
Transsolar Climate Engineering
0
Build for Density, Design for People
An idea for a public market, public park and visitors’ plaza over the
Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel approach by Architecture Research Office
Integrate infrastructure
planning and design
with community needs.
History shows how the addition of
new infrastructure in Greenwich
South, though useful in supporting
the needs of a growing city, had painful
consequences on the local area. The
dirt, noise and shadows that resulted
from the construction of the elevated
train in 1868 turned a thriving
“Millionaire’s Row” along Greenwich
Street into a district of brothels and
boarding houses. The area recovered,
and was a vibrant business district,
until the building of the BrooklynBattery Tunnel in 1950 brought
the noise and pollution of thousands
of cars directly into the heart of
Greenwich South. Finally, the creation
of the super block for the original
World Trade Center severed the
connection along Greenwich Street,
cutting off Greenwich South from the
areas to the north and handicapping
the district’s development for decades.
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
We must think more carefully
about the role of infrastructure as
Greenwich South evolves in the 21st
century — and recognize that form
is just as important as function. The
number of people who visit, live and
work in the district will continue to
grow, placing greater demands on the
performance of each square foot of
space. Infrastructure that is insensitive
to the area’s connectivity or is inhospitable to intense pedestrian activity is
simply incompatible with the needs of
a vibrant and dynamic district.
We must also think about how
to civilize the spaces already ceded
to infrastructure, and discover ways
to lessen its imposition on the local
area. Might there be opportunities to
recapture some of the space taken up
by infrastructure — perhaps creating
a park on the roof of the BrooklynBattery Garage — to better integrate
it with a rapidly growing residential
community? All future decisions about
development of new infrastructure must be made in light of the needs of a
dense, rapidly-growing neighborhood.
Opportunities
Implement a comprehensive strategy for
the long-term planning and redesign of
Lower Manhattan infrastructure
Ensure that the pedestrian experience
is foremost in the design and planning of
future improvements along West Street
Advocate for innovative methods of
funding and design to support integrated
and diverse modes of public transit
Connect public and private partners
to explore options for the tunnel
approach site
page 25
MORPHOSIS
4D
MA
IDE
N LA
NE
Principle 5
Create a Reason
to Come and a
Reason to Stay
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
Though thousands of people live and work
within the boundaries of Greenwich South,
few if any of them relate to the area as a distinctive
place because there is no “there” there.
An important part of the evolution of Greenwich
South requires establishing it as a place
with unique qualities — and recognizable character
that resonates in a powerful and positive way.
Initiatives aimed at creating more open space,
iconic and defining architecture and art, and
engaging programming can help make Greenwich
South more charismatic and welcoming to the
people in the local area as well as those from across
the city and around the globe.
page 27
Create a Reason to Come and a Reason to Stay
Public art in Chicago’s Millennium Park
has become a main attraction in the city.
Public programs like a market hall, here envisioned by Architecture Research Office,
could draw workers, residents and visitors to Greenwich South and provide a much-needed public
5A
Opportunities
Create public spaces
to support new
development and a
growing population.
Create a network of pocket parks and
plazas throughout the neighborhood
Open spaces help to balance a
densely-built environment with the
growing population — they should
be the centers of public life, places
where workers, residents and visitors
all interact.
Multi-functional spaces should
adapt to a range of uses — active
and passive, programmed and unprogrammed, day, evening and weekend.
Smaller pocket parks and plazas can
animate Greenwich South and
provide places for the area’s diverse
users. Greenwich South also needs a
signature open space — an immediately
identifiable park or plaza that creates
a local focal point for community
gathering and daily life.
Five Principles for Greenwich South
Create an iconic meeting place in
Greenwich South
Encourage the creation of public
facilities — markets, performance spaces,
sports fields, outdoor movie theaters
Create strong architectural character
with existing and new buildings by
encouraging design excellence in
adaptive reuse and new construction
Commission a district-wide public
art program
Create a new signature community open
space for area residents and workers
page 28
open
space for Lower Manhattan
Create a Reason to Come and a Reason to Stay
T ST
WES
REET
World Trade
Center
WALL STR
EET
Battery Park
City
Battery Park
Existing site conditions lend each of Greenwich
Trinity Place could become a major retail thoroughfare
5B
Establish identities for
north-south streets.
Changes to surrounding areas present
an opportunity to organize uses along
Greenwich South’s three interior
north-south streets. Greenwich Street,
which reconnects the Battery and the
World Trade Center, should become
the organizing element for Greenwich
South. Open spaces, retail, restaurants, cultural and entertainment
venues along Greenwich Street should
establish the street as a complement
to Broadway: accessible from anywhere in the city by vehicle or on foot,
and animated by a variety of uses.
Trinity Place offers an extraordinary opportunity to extend a new
retail promenade from Century 21
and the 500,000 square feet of retail at
the World Trade Center to the street’s
terminus at a remade Edgar Park.
Additionally,Trinity Place can become
a hinge between the retail on Wall
Street and the World Trade Center.
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
South’s north-south streets its own identity
Washington Street has a very
different character from either
Greenwich or Trinity. It primarily
serves area residents and hotel guests.
Dead ends at the north and south
limit through traffic, making it
an ideal laboratory to test a new street
typology. It could be a shared street,
a market, open air lunchtime café
with entertainment or something
totally new that makes the street
a neighborhood amenity.
Redesign Rector Street to make it
a stronger connector between the WTC
site and Wall Street
Give West Street a human scale and
functional identity by retrofitting and
programming the east side of the street
with services and retail
Reimagine Washington Street as a
shared street neighborhood amenity
Opportunities
Widen sidewalks and improve storefronts
along the west side of Trinity Place,
to create a shopping promenade that
capitalizes on the future PATH and WTC
retail along Church Street
Maximize retail uses throughout the
district with attractive street corners,
incentives for new tenants and improved
storefronts
Identify location on Washington Street
and work with property owner to attract a
high-quality grocery store
page 29
rendering by Squared Design Lab
Create a Reason to Come and a Reason to Stay
Cultural destinations in Lower Manhattan. Clockwise from top left: the future World Trade Center Memorial, the River to River Festival, Castle Clinton and
3-Legged Dog Media and Theater Group
Complement Lower
Manhattan’s cultural
destinations with
dynamic programming
to draw repeat visitors.
Signature arts and cultural offerings
help define many cherished NewYork
neighborhoods. Lower Manhattan
has no lack of unique cultural destinations — its many historic sites and
museums draw millions of visitors
annually.Yet Lower Manhattan generally, and Greenwich South specifically,
lack a compelling variety of venues to
attract locals for repeat visits. A goal
for Greenwich South’s future should
be to bring a variety of dynamic arts,
cultural and entertainment programming to Greenwich South to create a
more charismatic identity for the area.
As the largest free concert series
in the city, the Downtown Alliance’s
River to River Festival provides an
excellent example of how thoughtful
and dynamic arts programming can
Five Principles for Greenwich South
engage the public. Expanding
the Festival, which pulls in a million
people every summer, to include
more programming in Greenwich
South could be one way to start
animating this underserved area with
arts and culture. The creation of the
World Trade Center Performing Arts
Center and the possible renovation
of Castle Clinton into a year-round
entertainment venue might also
present programming opportunities
for Greenwich South to share in the
cultural events taking place nearby.
Cultivating Greenwich South’s
credentials within the art community
should also incorporate venues for
both the production and consumption
of art and culture. Creating temporary and permanent rehearsal spaces,
studios and artists’ residences within
Greenwich South would bring working artists to the area, providing an
interesting new dynamic to the mix
of users in the area that would not only
enrich the character of Greenwich
South might also attract attention
from locals and outsiders alike.
Opportunities
Program Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
approach site to capitalize on the major
destinations surrounding Greenwich
South: Battery Park, Castle Clinton and
the WTC site
Design Edgar Street Park with space for
small outdoor performances
attract institutions and activities with
contemporary and dynamic programs to
maximize return visits
Incentivize creation of rehearsal, studio
and/or performance spaces for small
and medium-sized organizations within
existing and future mixed-use buildings
Curate a district-wide art installation
page 30
raphael lozano-hemmer
5C
Create a Reason to Come and a Reason to Stay
Ideas for new buildings and installations in
Greenwich South.
Clockwise from top left:
Mixed-use tower by IwamotoScott Architecture;
Art installation by DeWitt Godfrey; Green Walls
landscape installation by Coen + Partners;
5D
Opportunities
Create icons that
establish a new identity
and sense of place for
Greenwich South.
Renovate Edgar Plaza and commission
an art installation to create an icon and
place for gathering
Urban touchstones, like the steps of
the Metropolitan Museum, Isamu
Noguchi’s Red Cube at Liberty Street,
or Union Square Park, define an
image for an entire district. These
icons create tangible incentives to visit
the site. They can serve as a rendezvous destination, a location for public
events or a lunch spot for workers,
but they also become conceptual
anchors that sustain neighborhood
property values and enhance desirability. Creating large and small icons
in Greenwich South would help
provide both identity and gathering
places within the district. New retail,
cultural, dining and entertainment
activities in the site can rely on these
iconic destinations to attract activity,
make wayfinding easier and support
a 24-hour district.
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
Coordinate with streetscape,
signage and lighting design of
Battery Park to lead pedestrians to
and from Greenwich Street
Expand Downtown Alliance
Re:Construction program to sites in
Greenwich South
Commission temporary art installations
over the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
approach and on the ventilation facility
Host a rotating architectural design
competition at the Edgar Plaza
or Greenwich Gateway site akin to
the Serpentine Gallery in London
or PS1 in Queens
Build a tall iconic structure that is
not a building — like the St. Louis Arch — to enable a new perspective on Lower
Manhattan and to establish a new datum
for Greenwich South
Build a new public space for the longterm future of Lower Manhattan
Locate a weekend greenmarket site
in Greenwich South
page 31
open
live-work Plug-In Tower by WORKac
Downtown-Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District
Greenwich South
Five Principles for Greenwich South
was commissioned by
with support from
and made by
Alliance for
Downtown New York
Greenwich South Study
ad hoc committee
Greenwich South Study
project team
Elizabeth H. Berger
President
co-chairs
Architecture Research Office
Alliance for Downtown New York
project team
Nicole LaRusso
Senior Vice President of Planning
and Economic Development
Christopher Reynolds
Assistant Vice President of Planning
Gideon Zeus Friedman
Assistant Director of Research
and Planning
Timur Galen
Goldman Sachs & Co
Frank Sciame
F.J. Sciame Construction Co., Inc.
members
Eric Anderson
Anderson Equities
Rick Bell
AIANY
Stephen Cassell AIA LEED AP, Principal;
Kim Yao AIA, Associate; Annie Barrett, Project
Manager; Nicolas Harrison; Emelie Larsson;
Adriel Mesznik; Neil Patel; Jejon Yeung LEED AP
Beyer Blinder Belle
Neil P. Kittredge AIA AICP, Partner;
Sapna Advani AICP LEED AP, Associate;
Rayna Huber Erlich R.A. LEED AP, Senior Planner;
Richard Miller; Marie Hines; Ralph Choueiri
Open
Scott Stowell, proprietor; Ryan Thacker;
Robert A. Di Ieso, Jr.; Lucia Vera Gehrenbeck
Elizabeth H. Berger
Alliance for Downtown NewYork, Inc.
Marc Kristal
Frank Bisignano
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
project advisor
Sheldon Cohen
CB Richard Ellis
jones | kroloff
visioning
Lawrence Graham
Brookfield Properties Corporation
Architecture Research Office
Francis Greenburger
Time Equities, Inc.
Coen + Partners
Peter Herman
Milbank,Tweed, Hadley & McCoy LLP
IwamotoScott Architecture
Julie Lasky
Design Observer
Morphosis
Beyer Blinder Belle
DeWitt Godfrey
Jorge Colombo
Robert Mueller
Urstadt Biddle Properties
Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects
Warrie Price
The Battery Conservancy
Raphael Lozano-Hemmer
Carl Weisbrod
Trinity Church Real Estate
WORKac
Open
design: open (www.notclosed.com)
Transsolar Climate Engineering
Alliance For Downtown NewYork
The Alliance
Name Offor
TheDowntown
Section New York
The mission of the Alliance for
Downtown New York is to be the
principal organization that provides
Lower Manhattan’s historic financial
district with a premier physical and
economic environment, advocates
for businesses and property owners
and promotes the area as a world-class
destination for companies, workers,
residents and visitors. The Downtown
Alliance manages the DowntownLower Manhattan Business Improvement
District (BID), serving an area roughly
from City Hall to the Battery, from the
East River to West Street.
Robert R. Douglass, Chairman
Milbank,Tweed, Hadley &
McCoy LLP
David W. Levinson
L&L Holding Company, LLC
Frank J. Bisignano
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Canon Ann Mallonnee
Parish of Trinity Church
Hon. Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor, City of NewYork
Julie Menin
Chair, Manhattan Community
Board No. 1
Peter Braus
Sierra Realty Corp.
Harry Bridgwood
NewWater Street Corporation
Janno Lieber
World Trade Center Properties LLC
Cherrie Nanninga
CB Richard Ellis, Inc.
Betty Cohen
Century 21 Department Stores
Dr. Antonio Perez
Borough of Manhattan
Community College
John V. Connorton Jr.
Hawkins Delafield &Wood LLP
Peter Poulakakos
Harry’s Café
K. Thomas Elghanayan
Rockrose Development Corporation
William C. Rudin
Rudin Management
Company, Inc.
David V. Fowler
The Bank of NewYork Mellon
Michael B. Francois
Port Authority of NewYork &
New Jersey
Rachelle Friedman
J&R Music and ComputerWorld
Stephen J. Friedman
Pace University
Timur Galen
Goldman Sachs & Co.
Hon. Alan Gerson
Councilmember, City of NewYork
James F. Gill
Battery Park City Authority
Robert J. Giuffra Jr.
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Lawrence F. Graham
Brookfield Properties Corporation
Stanley E. Grayson
M.R. Beal & Company
Francis Greenburger
Time Equities, Inc.
Thomas Hughes
Resident Representative
Alan M. Scott
Deutsche Bank
Michael Skidmore
Maxwell-Kates, Inc.
Allan G. Sperling
Cleary Gottlieb Steen &
Hamilton LLP
Hon. Scott M. Stringer
Manhattan Borough President
Kent M. Swig
SwigEquities, LLC
William C. Thompson
Comptroller, City of NewYork
Comm. Robert W. Walsh
Department of Small Business Services
Anthony L. Watson
HIP USA Health Plans
Frederick J. Wunschel
American International
Realty Corp.
Elizabeth H. Berger
Alliance for Downtown NewYork, Inc.
Richard T. Kennedy
Cushman &Wakefield, Inc.
Stephen Lefkowitz
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver &
Jacobson LLP
downtownNY.com
Five Principles for Greenwich South
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