DOWN AND NOT OUT: Lower Manhattan’s eclectic mix of spaces includes (clockwise from left) South Street Seaport, the National September 11 Museum, the Conrad New York, and City Hall Park.
(Lower Manhattan) continued from page 15
CEO of NYC & Company. “We are prepared and look forward to welcoming visitors and locals to Lower Manhattan and encouraging them to experience a neighborhood that has seen a dramatic revitalization in the last decade.” At the center of it all is Ground Zero, where
the September 11 Memorial will open to the public on Sept. 12, and where the 1,776-foot 1 World Trade Center is under construction. 1 WTC will be one of five skyscrapers built at the site, which also will include restaurants, shops, a 1,000-seat performing-arts center, and, opening next September as part of the Memorial, a museum that will “bear solemn witness” to the two terrorist attacks against the original World Trade Center — the first on Feb. 26, 1993, which killed six people.
Made in Lower Manhattan
Andaz Wall Street: 253 guestrooms and suites; 6,000 square feet of meeting space
Conrad New York: 463 guestrooms and suites; 22,000 square feet of meeting space
Doubletree Hotel New York City – Financial District: 399 guestrooms and suites; 234-square- foot boardroom
W New York – Downtown: 217 guestrooms and suites; 1,933 square feet of meeting space
22 pcma convene September 2011
A recent stay at the Millenium Hilton —
one of the neighborhood’s existing meeting properties, directly across the street from the WTC site — underscored the haunting sense of place that pervades downtown. From a room on the 15th floor, you can look directly down on, and into, Ground Zero, and it is both heartbreaking and deeply inspiring to watch the buildings that are slowly rising once more above the canyoned backdrop of Wall Street and the glinting carpet of the East River. Recently the sleek Millenium Hilton (with
569 guestrooms and suites, and 3,550 square feet of event space) has been joined by some equally impressive company, including the W New York – Downtown, the Andaz Wall Street, the Doubletree Hotel New York City – Financial District, and, opening later this year, the Conrad New York. (See “Made in Lower Manhattan,” at left.) Add to that the Down- town Conference Center at Pace University and the many other venues that downtown offers — the New York Stock Exchange, South Street Seaport, Battery Park, and a waterfront offering easy access to Ellis Island, Governors Island, and Liberty Island — and you have a newly vibrant, eclectic meetings destination that seamlessly blends past and future. It’s a fitting addition to a city that seems determined both never to forget and never to stop moving forward. n