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Read the press release here.

World Financial Center Now Open 24/7

By Julie Shapiro | December 2, 2010 6:49pm
The World Financial Center serves as a convenient passageway for many Battery Park City residents and will now be open all night long.
The World Financial Center serves as a convenient passageway for many Battery Park City residents and will now be open all night long.
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Flickr/jnpoulos

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

BATTERY PARK CITY — The World Financial Center is now open to the public 24 hours a day, thanks to the persistent complaints of a Battery Park City resident.

The massive Financial Center, which divides northern and southern Battery Park City, has always been closed to the public from midnight to 6 a.m., leaving residents without a direct, protected route to the subways.

Earlier this fall, longtime Gateway Plaza resident Tom Goodkind decided to take on the issue and sent repeated e-mails to World Financial Center owner Brookfield Properties.

Late last month, Goodkind, a Community Board 1 member, got a response: As of Nov. 21, Brookfield would allow the public to walk through 2 and 3 World Financial Center at all hours of the day and night.

"This is huge," said Goodkind, who now cuts through the World Financial Center every morning before 6 a.m. on his way to work. "It’s nice to have it open for the community."

Matthew Cherry, a Brookfield spokesman, said the office complex has always been open 24/7 to workers who show their IDs. Since the building already had round-the-clock security, there would be no extra cost from the increased access, Cherry said.

In addition to providing a safe, warm passage from Liberty Street up to Vesey Street, the walkway through the office towers also includes public bathrooms and ATMs.

Ariana Seigel, 25, a Gateway Plaza resident, was glad to hear the complex was now open 24/7.

"It’s quicker to cut through to get to the subway," Seigel said. "Late at night it would be really useful."

Fred Masson, 41, an Upper Manhattan resident who was walking through the Financial Center on a recent morning, said it would be a tranquil place to visit at night and could even become an attraction.

"Here in the middle of the night, looking out over the water,” he said, “that would be beautiful."