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NEW YORK CITY-Lower Manhattan is experiencing one of the lowest retail vacancy rates in the city – and a shopping renaissance, says Chase Welles, REBNY retail chair and vice president of the Shopping Center Group, who hosted “Downtown Retail Redefined,” a panel presentation and discussion at the Harvard Club on April 11.

Moderated by Liz Berger of the Alliance for Downtown New York, the program focused on four keystone projects: Brookfield Office Properties’ redevelopment of the World Financial Center, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s re-creation of the World Trade Center retail, the MTA’s vision for retail at the new Fulton Street Transit Hub and Howard Hughes Corp.’s overhaul of the South Street Seaport.