Beyond Ground Zero

As tension escalates about the fate of the city’s remaining share of $1.7 billion in Liberty Bonds for redevelopment downtown and Mayor Bloomberg and developer Larry Silverstein fire one salvo after another in the war of words over ground zero, let us take a step back. Ground zero is contentious for its symbolic and economic significance, and what is built there in the next decade will shape lower Manhattan for generations. But economic development in New York is not centered on that one 16-acre site. Mourning and politics take a long time, yet whatever happens at ground zero we are likely to see that one greatest testament to the spirit of New York in the face of the tragedy of 9/11 will be the extraordinary, city-wide real estate boom that has taken place in the years that immediately followed.