Modern Spaces NYC

New York Times - Priced out of Manhattan

January 30, 2012

So You’re Priced Out. Now What?
By JIM RENDON
It’s easy to fall in love with a neighborhood in New York. And given the high cost of
housing, it’s common to realize that you can’t afford the home you want in the
neighborhood you love.
So, what to do? Your first instinct may be to look a few stops away on the same subway
line, trading Williamsburg for Bushwick, for instance. Or you might choose a
neighboring area, moving to Yorkville, say, instead of the Upper East Side.
Sometimes that works, but other times it only lands you in an inconvenient neighborhood
with little resemblance to the area you had in mind. It can help to allow your imagination
to range farther afield, maybe even across a river. Instead of proximity to your heart’s
desire, consider places with similarities, like housing stock, nightlife and dining, the
typical resident and the overall feel.
Following are five pairs of neighborhoods: a popular, expensive area, and a cheaper
option, perhaps less well known. Of course there will be tradeoffs. But you might enjoy
the alternative even more than the original.

HELL’S KITCHEN/LONG ISLAND CITY
Hell’s Kitchen, as is obvious from its name, wasn’t always the most desirable place to
live. But that has changed, at first slowly and then more quickly. Restaurants, bars, coffee
shops and other businesses have settled in along Ninth Avenue, and a few are opening
farther west on 10th Avenue.
Much of Hell’s Kitchen has been protected from high-rise development, so that on the
cross streets, low-rise town houses, brownstones and historic churches remain. In the
northern part of the neighborhood, Prudential Douglas Elliman is listing a two-bedroom
two-bath condo at 426 West 58th Street for $1.749 million.
Development has been pushed to the neighborhood’s edges, toward the Hudson River
and along 42nd Street, where high-rises, mostly rentals, have sprouted in the last few
years. Two-bedrooms at the new MiMA tower on 42nd Street rent for about $6,500 a
month; the most expensive three-bedroom there is $16,250 a month.
Mr. Miller said the median price per square foot in Hell’s Kitchen in 2011 was $854 — a
bargain compared with costs in some other Manhattan neighborhoods.
But that figure is still 35 percent more expensive than the median of $555 in Long Island
City, Queens, which is growing its own forest of handsomely appointed residential
towers. Large condo projects are rising throughout the neighborhood, overshadowing
brick town houses, as well as garages and other businesses.
It’s easy to see why developers are drawn to its East River shoreline. High-rise towers are
under construction alongside a riverfront park with views to the west of the United
Nations and Midtown — just a few minutes away on half a dozen subway lines.
Restaurants, supermarkets, preschools and dog day care centers are popping up. The
neighborhood has a mix of old and new on Vernon Avenue, the commercial strip closest
to the water. There’s a strong arts community and even some remaining manufacturing.
Long Island City is home to MoMA PS1, a center for modern art and performance
events. Galleries and lofts are taking over industrial buildings.
“You have a sense of a real community here,” said Bob Singleton, the director of the
Greater Astoria Historical Society. “You have all the benefits of a small town with all of
the advantages of a big city right next to you in Midtown Manhattan.”
Eric Benaim began selling units in Long Island City in 2006 through his firm Modern
Spaces, which lists a two-bedroom two-bath condo at L Haus on 49th Avenue for
$870,000.
“It has all started happening over here in the last year and a half or so,” Mr. Benaim said.
And, he added, “It’s only about eight minutes on the subway to Hell’s Kitchen.”