Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Tuesday, March 16, 1999

Release #094-99

Contact: Colleen Roche/Curt Ritter (212) 788-2958


MAYOR GIULIANI AND POLICE COMMISSIONER SAFIR PRESIDE OVER CEREMONY FOR NYPD DOWNTOWN CENTER

New Downtown Manhattan Police Facility Will House Officers From Three Separate NYPD Units

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir today joined Alliance for Downtown New York Chairman Robert Douglas in announcing the opening of the new police facility in Lower Manhattan. The new site, known as The NYPD Downtown Center, will house officers from the Scooter Task force, the Citywide Homeless Outreach Unit and the Movie and T.V. Unit.

The NYPD Downtown Center, located at 104 Washington Street between Rector and Carlisle Streets, will occupy 9,600 square feet of the first floor and the adjacent basement. The new facility will provide much needed space for a police force that has expanded by 45.5% since 1998. In addition to the officers from the three NYPD units, the site will also be the new headquarters for the Downtown Alliance security force.

"It is a pleasure to be here with all of you to cut the ribbon on this new substation, which will be a very important resource for the NYPD and for the thousands of people who live and work in downtown Manhattan," said Mayor Giuliani. "I want to thank the Downtown Alliance for its cooperation on this project. They understand that this facility will not only benefit this immediate area - which has been without a police facility since 1973 -- but will enable all the Citywide NYPD units housed here to be as productive as possible.

"The historic drop in crime since 1994 has given way to a tremendous renaissance in New York City," the Mayor continued. "Lower Manhattan, once an after-hours ghost town, is becoming Manhattan's fastest growing around-the-clock community, with the creation of more than 4,000 new residential units in the core of the Financial District and Battery Park City. There are more than 20,000 people currently residing in the area south of Chambers Street, and that number is expected to climb to 30,000 people by 2002.

Police Commissioner Safir said, "The NYPD is proud to have played a part in restoring New York City by achieving historic low levels of crime. It's important that the police and the private sector work together for the betterment of all concerned, and today's grand opening is a fine example of how effective these partnerships can be."

Downtown Alliance Chairman Robert Douglas said, "I want to thank the Mayor and the Police Commissioner for their support and ongoing commitment to reinstating a police presence in Lower Manhattan. With Downtown's emergence as a 24-hour community of residents, workers, and visitors, the time for a permanent police facility has certainly arrived."

Since the Lower Manhattan Revitalization Plan was launched in 1995, the area has attracted more than 275 high tech firms and the commercial vacancy rate has fallen to 9.1%, half of what it was in 1995. With an increase of residents, schools, retail shops and tourists, the NYPD decided to restore police presence in Lower Manhattan and to maintain it jointly with the Alliance for Downtown New York. The former First Precinct left its quarters at 100 Old Slip in 1973 and moved into the Fourth Precinct on Ericson Place to become the new First Precinct.

The Alliance for Downtown New York, Inc. manages the Downtown Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District, one square mile comprising the southernmost part of Manhattan. The Alliance provides supplemental sanitation and security services; economic development; street scope; and transportation improvements, marketing and tourist services.

The NYPD Downtown Center was designed by the architectural firm Mancini-Duffy.

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