You may have noticed that World Trade Center Towers 2, 3 and 4 have been given snazzy new Greenwich Street addresses by developer Larry Silverstein. That's because when all is said and done, Greenwich Street will continue between Vestry and Liberty Streets, connecting a dead spot in the New York City grid. However, the Observer's Matthew Schuerman goes beyond simple urban planning in an interesting story about the planned Tribeca-ization of Lower Manhattan. He writes:
This rebranding is not total, nor is it irreversible, and there is some question whether it will catch on. But its advantages are obvious: It distances the new towers from the Sept. 11 attacks and connects them instead to Tribeca and the spiffy neighborhood to the south that is itself being rebranded as “Greenwich South.” Even without the tragic overtones, naming a building after the World Trade Center would conjure up concrete columns rising dizzyingly into the sky. Naming it after Greenwich Street evokes Robert De Niro emerging from the fog on a cobblestone alley, surrounded by red-brick warehouses containing design firms and expensive sushi restaurants.Great, now we can't think of the new towers without picturing a mohawk'd young De Niro staring into a mirror and saying, "You talking to Fumihiko Maki? You talking to Fumihiko Maki?"
· Ground Zero Is Rebranded With Tribeca Patina [NYO]
· Freedom Tower's Spire Really Getting Trippy [Curbed]
· BREAKING WTC Final Designs: The Whole Enchilada [Curbed]