Dr. Steven Cohen has been through the wringer more than once. The pipes in Cohen’s Battery Park City Chiropractic Office have burst three times, and yet Cohen has seen the neighborhood progress before and after 9/11.
Cohen’s practice is celebrating 20 years in Battery Park City. Cohen opened his office on South End Avenue in 1986 when Gateway Plaza was the only residential complex in Battery Park City and there were no nearby offices other than the two buildings known as the World Trade Center. He thought he’d get business from those two buildings and he was right.
“It was like the Wild West out here and the area really grew around me,” Cohen said.
When Cohen opened his office, there were very few chiropractors in Lower Manhattan.
“As the area grew, the practice grew,” he said. “I really gained patients through word of mouth and referrals, which is the best kind of practice to have.”
Over the years he says the demographics of the area have obviously changed. The original dwellers, he said, moved to the area in the mid-to-late ‘80s. “There were many singles and many couples. The singles got married and had babies oand the couples got married and had babies…. It was a very close-knit community. Back in those days there was no north end of Battery Park City, we were all south of the financial center and everyone knew each other,” he said.
After 9/11 many families moved away. “There is a much younger generation now.” The majority of the residents now do not necessarily work in the financial district, whereas they did before. “
“It was difficult for my office because my base moved away, was disenchanted, or was dealing with the after effects of 9/11,” Cohen said. “It was a very hard financial hit and I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I persevered and I’m still here now.”
— Priya Idiculla
