Curbed Cup 1st round: (6) Financial District vs. (11) Greenpoint

The Curbed Cup, our annual award for the neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 16 neighborhoods vying for the prestigious (fake) trophy. We’ll reveal each of the neighborhoods this week, and polls will be open for 24 hours so you can cast your vote as to which ones should advance. Let the eliminations commence!

Financial District (6)

In this battle of NYC waterfront neighborhoods, the established heavyweight is up first. The World Trade Center complex has been at the center of the Financial District’s revitalization in the past decade, and this year was no different: Work is wrapping up on the complex’s latest supertall, 3 World Trade Center.

Lower Manhattan is very much defined by its skyscrapers, and construction on a host of them made big strides in 2017. Work finally got underway at the planned 1,115-foot skyscraper at 45 Broad Street; demolition plans filed at 80 South Street indicated the imminent rise of a 1,436-foot residential and commercial tower; and Rafael Viñoly’s 88-story skyscraper at 125 Greenwich Street also made progress.

As always, there were some pricey sales offerings in the neighborhood as well; the Woolworth Tower’s $110 million penthouse finally hit the market, and sales got underway at Sharif El-Gamal’s 45 Park Place with apartments asking from $3 million and upward.

Earlier this year, the neighborhood also came under some heavy media attention, but not over its real estate. The Fearless Girl sculpture divided New Yorkers over its placement in front of the Charging Bull on Wall Street. Many derided its “corporate feminism” agenda, the Charging Bull sculptor even threatened legal action, but ultimately, the statue was allowed to remain in place until February 2018.

Greenpoint (11)

Across the East River, a once-sleepy immigrant enclave began to sprout more towers along a waterfront that will eventually be covered in skyscrapers. The neighborhood’s tallest tower, The Greenpoint, made significant progress, with the 40-story condo launching sales from $989,000, and the developers behind the project offering a peek at what views from the building will look like.

Max Touhey

Many more towers are coming in the future, including a recently announced three-building development by Halcyon Management. And the first market-rate rental at the neighborhood megaproject, Greenpoint Landing, topped out.

With all the new development taking over Greenpoint, it only seemed apt that the neighborhood said goodbye to one of its longstanding (but not-so-loved) icons, the Kosciuszko Bridge. The old span of the bridge was demolished in October, but local residents can cheer for the new Kosciuszko Bridge that was unveiled in April. A second span will rise where the old one stood.

There were other investments in needed neighborhood amenities, too: Mayor Bill de Blasio revived a proposal to transform the abandoned Greenpoint Hospital complex into affordable housing, and an eco-friendly revamp and expansion of the neighborhood’s library is currently underway.

Will it be the underdog that prevails? Or will be it be the tried and true neighborhood that advances to the next round? Cast your vote below, and may the best neighborhood win.