The Empire State Building and the Flatiron Building have been staring at each other along Fifth Avenue for almost 100 years. (Artem Vorobiev/Getty Images)

Life in this city moves pretty fast! In the words of the immortal Ferris Bueller, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. To keep you up to speed, we’ve compiled a quick roundup of what One Block Over’s editors have been reading, discussing, and buzzing about this week. Here’s what’s happening in NYC real estate:

Our Star Turn (It’s Oh-So-NYC)

First things first: We’d be lying if we said our office wasn’t all aflutter about this week’s Shouts & Murmurs column in the New Yorker. Jen Spyra’s “Zillow Listings of New York City” really made us “feel so seen.” We knew we weren’t the only ones who secretly check listings to see how far our NYC budget would go in, say, Cairo, Georgia — we’re just lucky that we get to do it at work.

Manhattan & Brooklyn Rentals Under $3,000 on StreetEasy Article continues below

Lenox Hill

210 East 67th Street

$2,600 No Fee

Studio |

1

East Flatbush

1527 New York Avenue

$2,799 No Fee

2 |

2

Crown Heights

2441 Dean Street

$2,500 No Fee

2 |

1

Manhattan Valley

205 West 109th Street

$2,950 No Fee

3 |

1

East Village

413 East 9th Street

$2,761 No Fee

1 |

1

Washington Heights

600 West 174th Street

$1,995 No Fee

1 |

1

Lenox Hill

507 East 73rd Street

$2,550 No Fee

1 |

1

Kensington

430 Ocean Parkway

$2,249 No Fee

1 |

1

Yorkville

351 East 82nd Street

$2,800 No Fee

1 |

1

Hamilton Heights

470 West 141st Street

$2,550 No Fee

1 |

1

Hudson Yards

536 Ninth Avenue

$2,650 No Fee

1 |

1

East Harlem

321 East 108th Street

$2,300 No Fee

1 |

1

Here Come the Hotels

Lois Weiss at the New York Post delved into the glut of new hotel construction in the city, as developers race to keep up with a boom in tourism. A record 66.9 million travelers visited the city last year, according to Weiss, and brand-new hotels are currently going up in all five boroughs to accommodate them: 56 in Manhattan, 21 in Brooklyn, 37 in Queens, 8 in the Bronx, and 1 in Staten Island. Several of these new hotels are coming to the NoMad area of Manhattan, which actually brings us to our next story:

From Flatiron to the Empire State Building

There’s quite a lot of new development along the stretch of Fifth Avenue that runs between 23^rd Street and 34^th Street — aka, where Flatiron meets the newly hot NoMad neighborhood. (In fact, it recently ranked as the priciest street in all of Manhattan for rental apartments in a StreetEasy data study!) As reported by the New York Times’ John Freeman Gill, these ever-taller buildings are endangering a precious, if intangible, NYC commodity: the clear line of sight between the Empire State Building and the Flatiron Building. This open view from one historic landmark to another is truly one of the things that make Manhattan magical, and it would be such a terrible shame to lose it.

West Side Showdown: Hudson Yards vs. High Line

Speaking of losing a view, this week saw a raging debate over the building of a wall, not down at the border but right here at home. As Curbed’s Amy Plitt summed up nicely, it seems that phase two of the Hudson Yards complex included a proposal for a massive two-story wall that would have blocked the High Line, essentially creating a private outdoor space for the surrounding apartment towers rather than open public space for all. As one might imagine, this did not go over too well with the general public, or with city officials, and the idea has been scrapped.

Manhattan & Brooklyn 1-2BRs Under $1M on StreetEasy Article continues below

Brooklyn Heights

111 Hicks Street

$790,000

1 |

1

Turtle Bay

321 East 48th Street

$750,000

1 |

1

Upper West Side

15 West 72nd Street

$795,000

1 |

1

Williamsburg

30 Devoe Street

$960,000

1 |

1

Upper West Side

280 West End Avenue

$839,000

1 |

1

Lenox Hill

300 East 62nd Street

$825,000

1 |

1

Bushwick

226 Stanhope Street

$875,000

1 |

1

Lenox Hill

343 East 74th Street

$760,000

1 |

1

Upper West Side

219 West 80th Street

$995,000

2 |

2

Midtown

162 West 56th Street

$925,000

1 |

1

South Harlem

10 Lenox Avenue

$765,000

1 |

1

South Harlem

10 Lenox Avenue

$795,000

1 |

1

Co-Living for Grown-Ups

Finally, how old is too old for dorm-style living? Jane Margolies of the Times reported on the “growing up” of multi-roommate, co-living rentals — in which renters pay for a bedroom and share communal bathrooms, kitchens, and living areas with others who are doing the same. Co-living companies are booming in NYC, says Margolies, attracting not just students but professionals in their 20s and 30s . But for rents that can run up above $2,000 a month, a tenant could get an apartment of his or her own, and isn’t that much more “grown up”? (Here’s a tip: Check the StreetEasy listings!)

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Inspired to find your next place in New York? Whether you’re looking to rent or to buy, search NYC apartments on StreetEasy.