Learn About the Financial District
The Financial District includes everything below Chinatown and Tribeca to the southern tip of Manhattan. The home of Wall Street, this neighborhood used to turn into a ghost after the closing bell rang at the stock market. But a steady increase in residential space has turned the Financial District into a residential neighborhood, complete with bustling with shops and restaurants that cater to the growing fulltime population.
Investment bankers and stock brokers' love being able to walk to work, and for those with jobs further north, the subway access can't be beat.
Just east and to the South of Tribeca is the Financial District, sometimes called the Civic Center neighborhood or the Plaza District. This swath of downtown Manhattan encompasses most of the city government, including City Hall, police headquarters and the courts, as well as the skyscrapers that envelope Wall Street. Filled with buildings adorned with classical columns and copper-sheathed cupolas, the Financial District also embodies the central power of New York City, both in name and stature: Federal Hall, where George Washington was inaugurated as the country’s first president, still faces down Wall Street toward New York Harbor. In addition to easy access to power, from the Financial District, residents can also walk to Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge or ferry across the harbor to Staten Island.
A stone’s throw away from a Dim Sum brunch in Chinatown, about 20,000 full-time residents call the Financial District home – double the number of a decade ago. The area remains far less dense than most of Manhattan, where the average number of residents totals 35,000 per block (TK check). Parks and public spaces keep the neighborhood quiet, and apartments cost about half of what they do on the Upper East Side. Many residents have therefore, chosen the Financial District for its easy access to government, its status and its relative cost efficiency.
Arts/Entertainment
The Financial District is home to the South Street Seaport, with spectacular views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the harbor, as well as waterfront shops and restaurants. Open-air concerts are also held here.
Great Outdoors
The Financial District includes Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan, with unbeatable views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
Subways: