The Curbed Cup, our annual award for the New York City neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 16 areas vying for the prestigious (fake) trophy. This week we'll have two matchups per day, and all the results and the full tournament bracket will be reviewed on Friday. Voting for each pairing ends 24 hours after it begins. Let the eliminations commence!
The residential-ization of the Financial District has made it a strong Cup contender for a few years, but its myriad goings-on in 2014 could tip it into the winner's circle. Real estate action can be divided into four categories: 1) a proliferation of development sites going for (or asking) crazy amounts of money; 2) residential conversions of awesome, historic buildings (Woolworth Building, Beekman Residences and hotel, 70 Pine, One Wall, and the Verizon building on Barclay Street; 3) the planned construction of new tall towers, for example, on Fulton, West, Greenwich, Trinity Place, and maybe Nassau Street, to name a few. Most notably, though, the World Trade Center site reached several major mile milestones. One World Trade opened (!), as did the 9/11 Museum. 4 World Trade got tenants, 3 World Trade got funding to keep rising, and the transit hub keeps sprouting wings. The area, though, hasn't taken kindly to Howard Hughes' plan to totally remake Pier 17 and the South Street Seaport, so that's a development battle to watch. And on the preservation front, the century-old Pier A finally opened, all beautiful and restored. Whew.
On to Ridgewood, the Queens upstart right across the Brooklyn border, in the other corner. The pace of development there is obviously less breakneck, but relatively speaking, a lot is changing. It's been the subject of many a gentrification watch, with new developments springing up all over the place, all the time. And, because The Times is on it, it's been given a new shorthand: Quooklyn. That means it's arrived, right? You decide.
· All Financial District coverage [Curbed]
· All Ridgewood coverage [Curbed]
· Curbed Cup 2014 [Curbed]
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