From Adweek · Rob Reilly · · 1m 30s
The pit became a neighborhood
WPP's global creative chief on watching the towers fall, then watching a scarred 16 acres turn into a place people live.
In brief
WPP's global creative chief on watching the towers fall, then watching a scarred 16 acres turn into a place people live. Rebuilding Lower Manhattan took a bet that people would come back, and the bet paid off in residents, not just office leases. Originally reported by Adweek.
Hudson Street, 2001
Rob Reilly watched WTC 1 come down from Hudson Street on the morning of September 11. He says the image never left him.
“That image is seared into my brain.”
Sixteen acres of nothing
For years the site was a void everyone called the pit, crossed by temporary pedestrian bridges. The assumption was that nobody would want to come back downtown.
“There was an open scar in the middle of the city, a 16-acre void we called "the pit."”
Then the steel climbed
One World Trade broke street level and kept going. A decade of building later, the skyline was whole again.
“New York City did what it does best: move forward without forgetting.”
WPP took the bet
In 2013, GroupM signed one of the first long-term leases at 3 World Trade Center, then the largest new office commitment in a WTC building. Condé Nast, Spotify and Fast Company followed.
Offices brought a neighborhood
Restaurants, culture and young residents followed the companies. Lower Manhattan's population has doubled since 2000, and FiDi led all NYC neighborhoods in 2025 apartment searches on StreetEasy.
A tribute you walk through
Reilly passes the memorial pools on the way to work and sees the Oculus from his window. The site reads to him as proof that creativity is how a city chooses the future.
“Creativity is the ultimate act of optimism.”
The big picture
Rebuilding Lower Manhattan took a bet that people would come back, and the bet paid off in residents, not just office leases.
