Lower Manhattan Redevelopment

New York City is the ideal setting for the Museum of Money. It is universally recognized as the nation’s (if not the world’s) financial center. New York City is also the museum capital of North America. During 2000, some 23 million people went to museums in the city, an increase of 10% from the previous year.

Within NYC, Lower Manhattan is the ideal location for a museum of economics, since it is home of the historic core and financial district. This location will allow the new Museum to serve multiple markets. This market includes tourists, schools, local residents, and 400,000 people who work in the downtown area (before September 11).

Before the destruction of the Trade Center, the Alliance for Downtown New York estimated that seven million people visited Lower Manhattan each year in search of leisure activities:

41% were international tourists,
31% were domestic tourists from outside the New York metropolitan area,
10% were visitors from outlying suburbs, and
18% were from New York City.

Many of these downtown visitors were seeking out an entertaining and educational exposure to the “Wall Street experience” at the New York Stock Exchange. Others wanted to visit the World Trade Center, Liberty Park, and Ellis Island — or to shop and eat at the South Street Seaport.
The Museum will complement these destinations, and vice-versa. Together, the attractions will draw large numbers of visitors to Lower Manhattan.