March 25th - March 31st, 2005

SEC Readies for Relocation to WFC

Monday, March 28: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) formally announced that it will move its northeast regional office, currently located in downtown's Woolworth Building, to the World Financial Center, Dow Jones reported.

According to the SEC, the relocation is necessary to accommodate the agency's 20 percent growth in staff. The agency is expected to move into its 225,000 square feet of leased office space at 3 World Financial Center sometime this spring, Dow Jones said.

Formerly located at 7 World Trade Center, the SEC was forced to relocate its offices to the Woolworth Building at 233 Broadway after 7 WTC collapsed during the 9/11 attacks. While the commission had originally planned to return to 7 WTC once it was rebuilt, increased rental fees and expenses at the new site caused the agency to relocate to 3 World Financial, Bloomberg explained in an earlier report.

The SEC's 150,000-square-foot space at the Woolworth Building will soon be occupied by another government agency, which frees the SEC from its 10-year lease, Bloomberg added.

New York Begins Planning for Development of Governors Island

Wednesday, March 30: New York City and State officials have begun soliciting requests from architects, builders, and institutions for ideas on how to develop Governors Island, a 172-acre island located 800 yards off the coast of Lower Manhattan that has gone largely unused for years, the Wall Street Journal reported.

New York State purchased the island, which has served as a military installation for most of the past two centuries, from the federal government two years ago for a total of $1 on the condition that the property's largely open spaces and lawns not be used primarily for commercial purposes, the paper said.

In keeping with the agreement, New York's plans for the island include the creation of spaces dedicated to education, research, and arts and culture, as well as recreation and entertainment. Albeit secondary, there will also be a commercial component to the plan, including one hotel and several restaurants and shops, to allow the island to generate enough funding to make it financially self-sufficient, the Journal explained.

The Governors Island Preservation & Education Corporation (GIPEC), which owns most of the island, is expected to announce a program and development framework for the island and issue formal proposal requests to developers this summer, the Journal reported.

GIPEC's redevelopment plan will include all 150 acres of the island that it owns, the paper added. The remaining 22 acres are run by the National Parks Service and house Fort Jay and Castle Williams -- two forts built before the War of 1812 and designed to protect the New York Harbor from attack.

The development of Governors Island is part of a larger plan to redevelop New York's East River waterfront and the New York Harbor. For more information about the East River waterfront redevelopment, click here.

For more information about Governors Island, click here.