I was not in Tribeca in 2001 — I moved here three years later. So I am leaning on Tribeca Trib co-founder Carl Glassman and his video above to recount those days immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center and how it affected the neighborhood. And when I moved here, I never really equated Tribeca with the World Trade Center — yes, they were adjacent, but the World Trade Center did not — for me — give Tribeca its identity.

Still, we know how much the events affected everyone here at the time: all the residents, some of whom had been here for decades and were forced to flee, in some cases never to return; the students at PS 234, PS/IS 89, PS 150, BMCC and Stuy; the tens of thousands of people who worked here. And then for weeks after, folks had to figure out how to live in what was essentially a DMZ. We know how business owners here in Tribeca contributed to the recovery efforts at the pile. We saw how one resident created an arts festival to speed the recovery, and how it continues today.

And all those efforts, made when no one could imagine the present let alone the future, have produced the Tribeca we know today. Here’s just a few ways to show how the neighborhood has changed in those 25 years, above and beyond the transformation of the 16 acres of the World Trade Center itself:

NUMBER OF RESIDENTS HAS MORE THAN DOUBLED
The district — Community District 1, including Tribeca, the Financial District and Battery Park City — has more than doubled in population, from 34,000 in 2000 to 78,000 in 2020.

Tribeca proper has also boomed, going from a population of 12,000 in 2000 to 21,000 in 2020.

DOZENS OF SKYSCRAPERS ADDED TO THE SKYLINE
Think of the buildings that weren’t here even by 2004; I can barely summon an image in my mind of the parking lot that was Whole Foods when I got here:

• 101 and 99 Warren (2008)
• 111 Murray (2018)
• 200 Chambers (2006)
• 56 Leonard – Jenga (2007-2017)
• The Solaire (2004)
• Goldman Sachs HQ (2009)

RETAIL FILLS IN THE GAPS
As an indicator, Taste of Tribeca started in 1994 with 18 restaurants. In 2019, it had 61 participants. Of course there are dozens more restaurants in the neighborhood — a quick count on the city’s Land Use map went over 200. Now we know this is a shifting landscape and that retail vacancies are on the rise, but the growth from 2001 is indisputable.

MORE OPEN SPACES

• The Battery Park City ballfields opened in 2003.
• Pier 25 opened in 2010 — it’s hard to picture the waterfront before that. Pier 26 opened in 2020.
• Washington Market Park opened in 1980, but it was renovated into the playground we have now in 2002.
• Albert Capsouto Park opened in 2009
• Bogardus Plaza opened in 2020