Rebuilding Lower Manhattan

For 25 years, Mike Bloomberg’s leadership and vision have reshaped Lower Manhattan, including the World Trade Center.

Mike took the oath of office less than four months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center lay in ruins, Lower Manhattan remained in crisis, and the whole city was reeling. Many feared that businesses and families would flee and never return – and that the city would never recover.

Mike refused to allow 9/11 to become New York’s downfall. In his first year in office, he outlined a bold vision to transform Lower Manhattan from a 9-to-5 business district into a 24/7 residential neighborhood – and he began laying the foundation for New York City’s greatest comeback.

His vision for the post-9/11 rebuilding centered not on office towers, but people. His administration invested in new schools, parks, playgrounds, riverfront esplanades, picnic gardens, bicycle lanes, sports facilities, public art, and open spaces that reshaped Lower Manhattan into a family-friendly neighborhood. Mike also supported the creation and growth of arts and cultural organizations in Lower Manhattan, including the launch of the Tribeca Film Festival, which helped bring visitors back downtown. And he created small business incubator programs that welcomed hundreds of new startups downtown.

The rebuilding of the World Trade Center became one of the most complex projects in New York City history. The site was governed jointly by two states that had nine different governors over the 12 years following 9/11, with control and influence exerted by a number of public and private entities. After years of delays, costs to build the Memorial had ballooned to more than $1 billion, fundraising had stalled, and public confidence had waned. Fears rose that longstanding disputes over the site would never be resolved, and that the Memorial would never be built. In 2006, with design and construction still stalled, Mike stepped in and took over as chairman of the effort to build the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

Mike set a clear public goal: open the Memorial by the 10th anniversary of the attacks. To do that, he brought parties together to resolve logjams, build consensus, bring down costs, and secure agreements that allowed construction to move forward. He worked closely with family members to help resolve longstanding concerns over the arrangement of victims’ names on the Memorial. He supported Memorial architect Michael Arad’s “meaningful adjacencies” concept, allowing names of people connected in life to remain together forever on the Memorial. And he galvanized donors, raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

On September 11, 2011, Mike opened the 9/11 Memorial, fulfilling his promise to the families and to New York City – on time and on budget.

By the end of Mike’s mayoralty, there were more businesses and residents downtown than there had been before 9/11. A 9-to-5 business district once defined by office towers became a thriving, 24/7 neighborhood and an enduring symbol of New Yorkers’ resilience.

In 2014, Mike helped open the National September 11^th Memorial & Museum, ensuring the stories and lessons of 9/11 will never be forgotten. Today, more than 100 million visitors have come to the Memorial and 26 million have visited the Museum, making it one of the world’s most visited historic sites. Mike has welcomed to the Memorial and Museum US presidents, heads of state, and a diverse array of religious leaders.

As mayor, Mike was deeply committed to building a cultural center at the World Trade Center site, even as others voiced skepticism, and he continued to champion the project after leaving office. In 2023, he helped open the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC). Adjacent to the Memorial, the center is a distinctive marble cube featuring three theaters with flexible layouts that can accommodate multiple seating configurations for up to 1,200 people.