The Pace Downtown Index measures economic and business activity

The first comprehensive economic indicator for Lower Manhattan, announced Tuesday, July 13, revealed a rebounding downtown New York that has shown increases in the last several months and improvement over a year ago. On Thursday, July 15, the indicator was updated to include data from the month of June, and the resulting figure shows even greater increases in the Lower Manhattan economy.

Pace University's Center for Downtown New York (CDNY), with assistance from the Mayor's Office and the Alliance for Downtown New York, developed the new Pace Downtown Index (PDI), which provides a single statistic with which to measure economic and business activity in Lower Manhattan.

Pace University's Center for Downtown New York developed the new PDI

The PDI is determined by tracking economic progress as a weighted average of four variables, two representing activities in the financial markets and two representing the commercial real estate market and the city's overall economy. The selected variables are the S&P 500 Index, the Federal Funds Rate, the total commercial real estate inventory in Lower Manhattan, and the Gross Lower Manhattan Product.

Although the PDI has just gone public, the Pace team has tested the index against data on the Lower Manhattan economy since 1996. The PDI announced Tuesday was 93.11, compared to a July 1996 baseline of 100. The index has been tracking upward for the past several months, according to PDI researchers. On Thursday, when economic data for the month of June was factored in, the PDI rose to 93.32, showing a .21 percent increase. The rate is rising, researchers say, following recent announcements regarding job growth, investor confidence in the financial markets, and rebuilding plans for Ground Zero.

"The latest findings confirm that the downtown economic engine is revving up," said Daniel Slippen, director of Pace's Center for Downtown New York in a statement. "Even though the downtown economy has a long way to go before reaching pre-9/11 levels, PDI findings certainly suggest that downtown New York has no intention of relinquishing its premier status as the global capital of commerce."

Daniel Doctoroff, New York City Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, praised Pace's role as a community partner in the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, calling the index "a powerful addition" to the city's efforts to provide information about Lower Manhattan and "an invaluable tool to track downtown's economic growth and recovery."

The index will summarize the current state of the Lower Manhattan economy each month. Updates will be made available by 10 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month at www.pace.edu/paceindex as well as here on LowerManhattan.info.