NEW YORK CITY-The Alliance for Downtown New York has issued a plan for transforming Water Street, a half-mile thoroughfare flanked by one-fifth of Lower Manhattan’s commercial real estate. It seeks to undo the unintended side effects of an early 1960s rezoning—a too-wide boulevard that discourages pedestrian traffic—and to realize the street’s potential.

“Change is already under way on Water Street, but what we want to do is catalyze it,” Elizabeth Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance, tells GlobeSt.com. “We’re suggesting four big things. One, the street has to be re-scaled and made pedestrian-friendly.” At present, the street is four lanes wide; among other things, the alliance’s report, “Water Street: A New Approach,” recommends narrowing it to two vehicular lanes while adding a median throughout its length.

According to the report, “Almost no one walks along Water Street for more than two consecutive blocks. The pedestrian traffic that exists moves primarily across the street, but the width and vehicular speeds make the crossing feel unsafe. There are few amenities or retail options available even in areas of high foot traffic.”

Secondly, Berger says, “We want to create great public gathering places. Right now, that doesn’t exist on Water Street.” There is a great deal of public space along the street, but the distribution of it is too “diffuse,” the report says. “There is too much public space where there is poor sun access and little pedestrian activity, but too little where people naturally congregate.” Additionally, says the report, most pedestrians have little conception of Water Street as a connecting thoroughfare from the waterfront to the Financial District.

Since revamping the streetscape will entail a strong public-private partnership, says Berger, “The regulatory system has to allow and incentivize private owners to make changes to the street walls, to arcades and to public plazas.” There are already some examples of how that has happened, she says. The Elevated Acre at 55 Water St.—Manhattan’s largest office building at 3.8 million square feet—is one example, while the Andaz Hotel’s recently announced plans to run a greenmarket within part of its space at 75 Wall St. is another another. “But we’d like to see the possibility of owners moving forward with those kinds of changes and on a larger scale.”

Finally, Berger says, “We want to create programming.” In the words of the report, this would “leverage the diverse range of large and small spaces on Water Street, while seeking to capture the attention of workers, residents and visitors alike” and extend activity along the street “well into the evening, through the weekend.” Berger stresses the importance of extending the street’s hours of activity, “because this is really about jobs and the future of Water Street as an economic engine, not only for Lower Manhattan and the city but really the entire region.”

The report spells out the imperative behind its plans. “There is concern that without improvements to the public realm, Water Street will not sustain its status as a premium business address at a moment when a significant amount of the corridor’s space will be up for renewal in the next five years,” according to the report. The street is flanked by more than 19 million square feet of class A and B-plus office space.

Moreover, the report says, the “challenges” presented by Water Street are in contrast to the atmosphere of renewal elsewhere Downtown. “There is unprecedented construction and rebuilding in Lower Manhattan: 60 construction sites south of Chamber Street, from Battery Park City to the World Financial Center to the World Trade Center,” says Berger. “In fact, we think there’s this kind of activity going on everywhere but Water Street."

Instant Insights /

Major Revamp Seen for Downtown Thoroughfare

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