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- Chelsea
Chelsea apartments are located in a Manhattan neighborhood directly north of Greenwich Village, stretching from 14th Street to 30th Street, Seventh Avenue to the Hudson River. Known as a hot, hot, hot and pulsating offbeat area for alternative life-stylers, Chelsea has hit its peak. Chelsea underwent some dramatic gentrification in the 1990s, with upgraded housing and the 30-acre Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex coming into being. Additionally, Far West Chelsea, at Chelsea proper's most Western boundary, has been transformed from garages and car washes into galleries and production studios with a constant swirl of gala openings. Other popular destinations for New Yorkers include the Chelsea Market on Ninth Avenue and 15th Street. There are many other restaurants and clubs, especially around 14th Street and 9th Avenue or what is called the “Meat Packing District”. In addition, you also find mega discount stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Loehman's and Barney's Warehouse. Chelsea apartments are a mixed bag of residential townhouses, brownstones, apartment buildings and warehouses turned into lofts, and you can get a little more space for your money here. There's still ample new construction, but if a Chelsea apartment is on your wish list, you might want to shop around now before demand outweighs availability
- East Village
The area has been home to the Beat generation of the 1950s, hippies in the 1960s, and punks in the late 1970s and 1980s. Today it's still a young person's neighborhood, with its experimental music clubs, tattoo parlors, and cutting-edge fashion. Foodies take note: this neighborhood reputedly contains the most varied assortment of ethnic restaurants in New York City. For more trend-setting street life, head east toward Alphabet City (named for avenues A, B, C, and D) where it was has been greatly revived even though parts of avenues C and D are still a little rough around the edges. If Johnny Knoxville and the boys from Jackass lived in the city this is where they would be (I’ve actually ran into Johnny a few times in this area). Rents are escalating but some affordable small places can still be found in this hood.
- Financial District / Battery Park
Financial District apartments are located in a 25-acre residential and commercial complex bounded by Chambers Street to the north, West Street to the east, Pier A to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Initially, right after 9/11 many organizations with offices here migrated away from this area while some left the city completely. Since then many of the same firms have already returned as this location is revived. Residential apartments for rent are steadily becoming more of demand as well due to many renovated doorman buildings for a “moderate” price. Moderate in terms of New York pricing, considering a similar apartment in other areas of Manhattan will be, at the minimum, $500 more per month. It’s a great area to live in if you’re looking for active, busy days and peaceful quiet nights.
- Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park apartment sales are suprisingly more prevelant than rentals in this hot, happening youth-oriented enclave of very chic restaurants, mega-stores and fashion photographer's studios. Once considered a slightly non-descript area somewhere between downtown and uptown, the area has recently become one of the most sought after neighborhoods in Manhattan. Gramercy Park proper is bounded by 18th and 23rd Streets between Third Avenue and Park Avenue South, and includes the historic area of Irving Place. However, most New Yorkers refer to anything in the east teens and east 20s as Gramercy Park. Gramercy Park, at the center of this area, is the sole surviving "private residential park" in the city, and is surrounded by landmark townhouses and prewar buildings; it is an urban oasis that takes you back to what life must have been like in the 1800s. The park runs from 19th to 21st streets and Park Avenue South to Third Avenue. For less expensive Gramercy Park apartments, both sales and rentals, look just outside these boundaries where the city bursts into life again offering every type of dwelling from luxury high-rise living to warehouses converted into loft spaces. If you are looking for the perfect blend of historic, brownstone-lined side streets along with every type of venue from nightclubs to a huge open-air farmer's market in Union Square, Gramercy Park could be exactly what you've been searching for.
- Greenwich Village
Anchored by NYU and Washington Square Park, this neighborhood is ultra hip and young. The original corner of cool, the closest any American neighborhood comes to a corner of Paris. This part of town has been home to artists and writers, nonconformists, entertainers, intellectuals, and bohemians since the turn of the 20th century. Downtown charm is personified in lots of low-rise townhouses, thumbnail size gardens, secret courtyards, and cobblestone streets. You’ll spot a lot of celebrities in this neighborhood with its super-hip boutiques, cafes and restaurants. The nightlife is great. However, be prepared to pay a hefty price for a very small apartment in this very desirable neighborhood.
- Midtown East
Manhattan apartments located in the New York City area known as Midtown East run from East 40th to East 59th Street, from Fifth Avenue to the East River. This area contains desirable neighborhoods such as Beekman Place, Sutton Place and Tudor City, all located in close proximity to The United Nations. Manhattan apartments located in these locales are the favorites of diplomats as well as executives who prefer to walk to their offices in midtown. Some of the finest restaurants and department stores are located here. Although some blocks are a mix of commercial and residential properties, the convenience of the area has made it among the most desirable places to live in New York.
- Midtown West
Midtown West, also known as the Times Square/Theatre District, or Clinton (formerly Hell's Kitchen), stretches from West 36th Street to West 59th Street, from Broadway to the Hudson River. If you like the frenzy of living in the thumping heart of a working New York City encountering more tourists then New Yorkers, this is the area for you! An intensive renovation project began in the late 90s, bringing an explosion of real estate development, with many fine residential properties having been built in the West 50s. If you are looking for a proverbial "City that never sleeps" experience, then searching for Manhattan apartments in this area is a must.
- SOHO
An acronym for South of Houston. Soho is bordered on the south by Canal Street, the north by Houston Street, the east by Broadway, and the west by 6th Avenue. Largely commercial for most of the 20th century, artists pushed to have the neighborhood's many vacant warehouses, with their natural light and tons of open space turned into residential lofts in the 1970s and '80s, perfect for sculpting and painting. At that time the area was zoned exclusively for artists and their studios, with storefront galleries at ground level. It was the real deal. Then Soho was "discovered", and consequently Soho apartments and lofts have become much sought after for those choosing to live downtown. Soho now boasts a swank atmosphere with working actors and high-paid models living in the neighborhood, and it claims to be one of the safest neighborhoods in all of New York City. There's high-end retail shopping, high-end galleries, high-end eateries, and high-end tourists. The blessing is that Soho still retains its spectacular European-style, old-world architecture and cobblestone streets. Rents here are among the City's highest, and occasionally, finding available properties can be challenging.
- The Lower East Side
Bounded by Houston Street, Canal Street, and the FDR Drive, this neighborhood has exploded over the past five years. This neighborhood is a true multicultural blend, with trendy boutiques, good bars, French cafés, and velvet-roped nightspots sprinkled among dry-goods discounters, Spanish bodegas, and mom-and-pop shops selling everything from T-shirts to designer fashions to menorahs. If you like alternative and don’t mind a little walk to transportation this neighborhood is a good choice. Small walk-up apartments can still be found at reasonable prices as it is still a little seedy.
- Tribeca
Tribeca apartments are located in a vibrant Manhattan neighborhood bounded by Canal and Barclay Streets to the north and south, and by the Hudson River and Broadway to the east and west. Tribeca - actually an acronym for the Triangle Below Canal, boasts a unique collection of shops, restaurants, art galleries and luxury high-rise apartments. Spacious designer lofts, Robert Deniro's film studio and restaurant, and constant celebrity sightings give the area a certain buzz. An eclectic mix of commercial and residential properties combined with a convenient location near New York City's Financial District. Tribeca apartments are much sought after as the neighborhood offers the industrial, bohemian qualities that once characterized the area's cast-iron architecture. Greek coffee shops, appliance stores and mom-and-pop shops still line the commercial streets with little change since the 1930's.
- Upper Eastside
Defined as the area from the edge of Central Park at 59th Street to 105th Street. The neighborhood air is perfumed with the scent of old money, conservative values, and glamorous sophistication. It may not be the hippest neighborhood in town being stereo-typed with having an abundance of early thirties Wall Street couples with baby carriages and elders but it is the home to some pretty good Irish pubs and restaurants. From luxury 50-storiy high rises to many streets filled with mid-rise older buildings, given the sheer volume of housing you can usually get a pretty nice apartment for a decent price in this neighborhood.
- Upper Westside
Broadway, brownstones, books, and some of the city's best bagels... the Upper West Side extends north from Columbus Circle at 59th Street up to 110th Street, and is bordered by Central Park West and Riverside Park. The Upper West Side is separated from the Upper East Side by Central Park. This is the traditional stronghold of the city's intellectual, creative, and moneyed community, but many would agree the atmosphere is not as upper crust as the Upper East Side.
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