The Downtown Alliance released a plan for "Greenwich South" today that it commissioned that hopes to turn the Lower Manhattan area between Battery Park, Battery Park City and Ground Zero into a 41-acre, "24/7 community" and connect it to other "vibrant" neighborhoods like TriBeCa and the West Village "via the main artery of Greenwich Street."

The plan looks beyond the completion of the redevelopment of Ground Zero, which is already many years behind schedule.

Although the northern half of the area has "many architecturally significant buildings," the plan maintained that the area now is characterized, it said, in part by "blank walls, loading docks, grade changes and a lack of human scale."

The report calls for the installation of artist workspaces in the bases of new towers and vacant office spaces, the installation of bike racks throughout the area, the creation of a "green exchange" trading floor for emerging green economy businesses.

"Two hundred years ago, Greenwich Street was the main road linking the mansions and farms of Lower Manhattan to Greenwich Village," the report noted, adding that "The completion of the World Trade Center site redevelopment will reinstate Greenwich Street, connecting Greenwich South to TriBeCa and creating a new pedestrian path from Battery Park City to the 9/11 Memorial and on to the High Line."

"Overly stringent security protocols at the World Trade Center could thwart movement into Greenwich South," it cautioned. "The priority should be to offset security measures by building strong psychological and visual connections along Greenwich Street - including streetscape elements and a signage and wayfinding system that integrates Greenwich Street north and south of the World Trade Center site. Another way to overcome the obstacles imposed by security might be to create a new transit link, with pre-screened vehicles taking passengers from the Battery to the High Line and all of the thriving neighborhoods in between."

The plan calls for new zoning in the area to permit the transfer of "air rights" throughout the district and it calls for creating pocket parks along Greenwich Street and improve streetscape with plantings and new street furniture, the creation of a sidewalk cafe district and a spine of public art on Greenwich Street such as a series of large-scale sculptures.

It called for a bridge over West Street from West Thames to JP Ward Street, a new bridge over the tunnel approach to realign Morris Street, an "Olmsted-inspired" land bridge across West Street, and an increase in the number and ease of at-grade crossings at West Street.

"While tall new towers will someday define the skyline of Greenwich South, the most critical component of the area's new developments will be how these buildings meet the ground...Zoning codes can be amended to encourage the creation of public spaces in building bases and on upper floors and roofs. New and inventive building designs should seek to address the pedestrian, not only at street level, but in the interstitial spaces created by changes in topography across Greenwich South."

"Urban touchstones, like the steps of the Metropolitan Museum, Isamu Noguchi's Red Cub at Liberty Street, or Union Square Park, define an image for an entire district," the plan argued, suggesting that a tall iconic structure that is not a building - like the St. Louis Arch - be built to enable a new perspective on Lower Manhattan and to establish a new datum for Greenwich South. It also called for a rotating architectural design competition at the Edgar Plaza or Greenwich Gateway site akin to the Serpentine Gallery in London or PS1 in Queens.

The 36-page report included illustrations of possible installations by Iwamoto Scott Architecture, DeWitt Godfrey; Coen + Partners, Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects, and WORKac. The study project team also include Morphosis, Architecture Research Office and Beyer Blinder Belle.