A group of community activists formed the " Save Our Seaport Coalition " to advocate that the New Market Building be incorporated into the historic district set by the Landmarks Preservation Commission , in addition to calling for the protection of public space in the neighborhood and for support for the seaport 's museum . This group included the Historic Districts Council , the " Save Our Seaport " community group , the New Amsterdam Market , and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance . The " Save Our Seaport " group specifically argued that New Market Building was culturally important for its maintenance of the historic fish market for 66 years , and that it offers a " fine example of WPA Moderne municipal architecture ( an increasingly rare form throughout the nation ) . " They had encouraged others to write letters to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to support formal designation or district protection . However , in 2013 , the Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to hold a hearing to consider this landmark designation or to expand the district . Community Board 1 supports protecting and repurposing the New Market Building , and the Municipal Art Society argued in a report that " it has both architectural and cultural significance as the last functioning site of the important commercial and shipping hub at South Street Seaport . " After the September 11 attacks in 2001 , New York City tour guide Joseph Svehlak and other local historians became concerned that government-encouraged development in Downtown Manhattan would lead to the disappearance of the last physical heritage of the once " low-rise " Lower West Side of Manhattan . Also known as " Little Syria " in the late 19th and early 20th centuries , the area between Battery Park and the World Trade Center site , east of West Street and west of Broadway , had been a residential area for the shipping elite of New York in the early 19th century , and turned into a substantial neighborhood of ethnic immigration in the mid-19th century . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries , centered on Washington Street , the area became well known as Little Syria , hosting immigrants from today 's Lebanon , Syria , and Palestine , as well those of many other ethnic groups including Greeks , Armenians , Irish , Slovaks , and Czechs . Due to eminent domain actions associated with the construction of the Brooklyn – Battery Tunnel and the World Trade Center , in addition to significant highrise construction in the 1920s and 30s , only a small number of low-rise historic buildings from the earlier eras remain
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission