Few events, certainly in living memory, have had such global resonance as those in Lower Manhattan a decade ago today.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 any thoughts of material loss, financial repercussions or commercial property ramifications were understandably bypassed in the wake of the human cost of the tragedy and the sudden void left at what was to become known as ‘Ground Zero’. Nevertheless, as the debris cleared and the emotion subsided from horror to mere shock at the inhumanity of it all, the more clinical and logistical considerations were taken into account by the commercial property world in order to improve the safety of future buildings and tenants. According to Dan Pufunt, president of property management for Jones Lang LaSalle, ‘the impact of September 11 was far-reaching – not only on deeply personal, social and political levels, but across different industries … For the commercial property industry specifically it spurred a movement towards increased risk management and emergency preparedness like never before.’
The effects of the attack on the Twin Towers permeated all aspects of the commercial property sector, from design and construction to occupancy, insurances and of course the newly perceived dangers of working in commercial property in a densely populated business district. Disaster investigators, including the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), were tasked with understanding why the buildings responded in the way and with the speed that they did following the attacks, and more importantly what structural and compositional changes could be made to minimise human loss should there be incidents on a similar scale in the future. Just as commercial property construction in Japan has been adapted to be more resistant to the constant threat of earthquakes, commercial property construction across the globe has had to learn to adapt to improve its protection from the threat of a repeat of 9/11.
Following a comprehensive and painstaking examination of the World Trade Center wreckage, an analysis greatly hindered by the almost complete destruction of the main bodies of evidence, the NIST issued 31 recommendations for improvements in safety of high-rise structures, fire protection and the emergency responses in the event of such a major threat. Many aspects of the NIST findings on commercial property building and safety have since been adopted by the International Code Council, and these in turn have typically been adopted by both local and state authorities. They include the requirement for stairwells in commercial property buildings taller than 75 feet to have luminous markings indicating the exit route even during a black-out, and a requirement for buildings above 420 feet to include an additional exit stairwell or a specially designed lift that may be used by occupants of a commercial property during an evacuation. The NIST recommendations and subsequent code changes have broad implications for international building safety and structural integrity, and in a global commercial property sector that is expanding vertically rather than horizontally, and certainly ever increasing in density, the developers and managers of commercial property should expect to receive regular additional guidance in protecting their occupants.
However, beyond renewed commitments to commercial property building safety, the change in the American national psyche following the events of 9/11, and more specifically its expression through their commercial property developments, is perhaps a more visible and tangible example of the influence of the attacks. The previous World Trade Center site was a towering representation of the corporate strength and prosperity of America, destroyed by the events of a decade ago. In the years that followed, Ground Zero essentially became a blank canvas on which New York could compose a response to the tragedy. The dramatic transformation of this urban landscape over the past decade is as clear an indication as any of the defiant reaction to 9/11, and this district of Lower Manhattan is now the largest pending office development in the US and one of the most exciting commercial property prospects in the world.
In addition to a memorial and commemorative museum, two new skyscrapers, totalling 4.8 million sq ft of commercial property and set to become the tallest in the western hemisphere, are currently under construction along with a stunning 76-storey luxury apartment complex, considered by many to be the best new skyscraper in the city in decades. Furthermore, World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein predicts the construction of two additional commercial property towers by 2015, embracing the limitless possibilities of the site.
Despite the destruction of 9/11, the commercial property of Lower Manhattan and New York as a whole continues to reflect the ambition and aspiration of those working and living in this most exciting and progressive of cities. According to Patrick L. Phillips, chief executive officer of the Urban Land Institute, ‘after the attacks a lot of people had doubts about whether or not cities would empty out and the work force would decentralise, particularly with the rise of the Internet, which allowed people to work in different ways. [Instead] the city has endured.’
The commercial property of Lower Manhattan has not only endured: it is flourishing.
