Don't cry for Lower Manhattan. A one-two punch of roundups from yesterday's Times, "Downtown's Boosters Say Bargain Rents Won't Last," and today's Sun, "Report Labels Lower Manhattan Model for American Downtowns," would give you the impression the 'hood is just fine, thank you. You buying this?
Sure, people are moving to downtowns all across the land, but the center of Lower Manhattan still "[lacks] open space, with dark, narrow streets, and suffered from being farther away from the city's major cultural attractions." And while "almost all of the south side of Wall Street" is now residential and the nabe's permanent population has doubled in 15 years, it hasn't stopped most people from viewing the area as "the land of the concrete canyons where the buildings empty out every evening." Are we all too hard on the place, or do these RE stats and this outtatowner's report have a point?
· Downtown's Boosters Say Bargain Rents Won't Last [NYT]
· Report Labels Lower Manhattan Model for American Downtowns [NYS, via RealDeal]