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
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 23rd Street and 34th 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
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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