Lower Manhattan's retail and residential resurgence

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - With the opening of One World Trade Center, the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the shopping mall at the Oculus PATH station, and the Fulton Street station, Lower Manhattan is bustling with new business and residential living.

Council Member Margaret Chin represents the area. She said that in the 16 years since 9/11, the residential population of Lower Manhattan has more than doubled. She said it is becoming more of a 24/7 community with lots of more businesses, such as retail and restaurants.

Chinatown is hoping to share more in the wealth.

Park Row, which stretches from Chinatown down to the South Street Seaport area, has been closed off since 9/11 for security reasons. The federal courthouse and the NYPD's headquarters are located on Park Row. The mayor said one side of Park Row will reopen next spring as an open pedestrian walkway with bicycle lanes to make it easier to get to and from Chinatown.

Another sign of growth is the farmer's market at the World Trade Center site. It reopened in June for the first time since 9/11. GrowNYC runs the farmer's market at the Oculus in addition to five others in Lower Manhattan. Catherine Crawford of GrowNYC said that the market attracts local shoppers as well as commuters and tourists.