Elizabeth Berger, president of the Alliance for Downtown NewYork, tells GlobeSt.com that one of the challenges of the originalWorld Trade Center, was that it was "an island in the middle oflower Manhattan, and one of the things about the new rebuildingplans was that it reconnects that super block." So although "theWTC site is a sensitive site and it is important to have an eyetoward the security of that site, there has to be a balance."

She further notes that "in talking about the future of lowerManhattan, it is important to say that we want the vitality andexcitement of lower Manhattan to extend to the rebuilt WTC site.With all the construction, closed streets and already intensesecurity that we have right now, we still have lower vacancy rates,higher asking prices per sf, an explosion of the residentialcommunity, and new retail. What we want is for that tocontinue."

Hugh Finnegan, an attorney in the real estate group at Sullivan& Worcester LLP, was mostly optimistic, but he says that theretail sector could suffer, "because shoppers may not want to bebothered with the extra time and inconvenience," he says, whenreferring to possible congestion that may be caused as a result ofthe extra security. He does note, however, that certain corporatetenants are likely to see the enhanced security as a benefit."Tenants for whom security is generally an issue, like investmentbanking firms or private banks, may derive comfort from knowingthat there is an added layer of protection at the WTC."