Photo: Great Ink Communications

This mixed-use development is the first new hotel and residential tower to be built in Lower Manhattan as well as the first new project apart from the World Trade Center complex to begin construction after 9/11 and is well underway.

Located at the southern edge of New York City’s World Trade Center Memorial Site and one block from the site of Tower 1, which is currently rising above street level, the new Moinian Group-owned W Downtown has been designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects LLC of New York City. The innovative, modernist exterior, crafted with sleek metal and translucent glass with an open façade, will continue pushing the boundaries of the new-look Lower Manhattan. The interiors, designed by Graft Architects of Berlin and basking in natural light, are filled with free-flowing space and continuous built-in furniture including white leather window seats and white lacquer cabinets that seamlessly flow between rooms.

The mixed-use development consists of 217 hotel rooms and 223 residences with their own private amenities floor, featuring fitness and lounge facilities and a rooftop landscaped terrace offering panoramic views in every direction of the Manhattan skyline. Sixty-four of the residences will be fully furnished by Graft. Plans also include a full service restaurant and bar with an outdoor café, spa treatment rooms, and meeting rooms.

“Downtown Manhattan continues to be underserved by hospitality options and the W New York-Downtown Hotel & Residences is poised to fill this need for contemporary cool hotel rooms and stylish residences,” said Joseph Moinian, President of The Moinian Group.

Adding to the rebirth of the Ground Zero neighborhood, the W New York-Downtown Hotel & Residences is expected to be ready for occupation in early 2010.