101 N. 5th Street

first floors in wburg are $100k off a comparable on a higher floor for a reason: giant windows makes you in your living room feel like you're sitting out on the street, meaning you have to have your blinds drawn at all times. and on fri/sat nights, you have drunken hipsters smoking right outside your apt until 4am to look forward to.

fredd forget the first floor..lotta f's in that one.....I wouldn't buy anything where I couldn't see over the tops of th trees aka higher than 4 floors..good luck.

fredd,

Ask bjw2103 about his bldg he's very familiar with this particular area.

fredd, I've seen some of the units here. I felt they were small for my taste, so I would definitely check them in person to gauge your comfort level. In my experience you can really wait out a 1st floor unit, as they're generally the last to go, and at a healthy discount to boot. I'm sure you know all the disadvantages (this is why they're cheaper after all), so again it's really a matter of what you're comfortable with. I think at a certain price point these become interesting, but in general, I'd avoid 1st floor units in new construction. That said, there's a lot of myth-making about "hipsters smoking right outside your apt until 4am" and the like. Make sure you know the block well, and you'll be able to tell if there's any truth to this (usually, there isn't). I almost bought a ground-level co-op on the UWS, 76th and Amsterdam (ie: not far from some of those pretty terrible post-college bars), except the windows and garden faced the back. It was totally silent (and smoke-free).

I live in a ground floor apt very similar to what bjw2103 describes on 76th and Amsterdam. It's silent except for the birds chirping in the morning when my windows are open. I wouldn't want a street facing ground floor apt.