upper westside.. morningside

I wouldn't go that far north. From 100th street up to around 115th west of broadway is lovely.

I am looking to buy in Harlem below 125th street. I love it. There are better sections than others. Since I live overseas, I rented temporary an apt there to check the different areas. It really changes block by block. I ended up talking with the gypsy cab drivers, mailmen, cops and dwellers about each block.
West of Morningside feels like the UWS. There is very little inventory and the prices are equal those at the UWS. East of that park is more black and loud, cheaper, and, for some, more interesting.

thanks for the feedback.

South of 115th St but north of 96th St, west of Broadway varies a bit, but generally feels like UWS starting in the high 70s, at a discounted price to the 70s and 80s.

Morningside Heights. West of Broadway is nice all the way to 116th.
Broadway to CPW between 100th and 110th is highly variable.
A pocket that is nice around 106th, CPW and Manhattan
110th to 120th is very nice from Riverside to Morningside Park
In Harlem, below the Morningside Park 116th to 123rd West of Frederick Douglas is very nice, and perhaps better than CPW to Broadway 100 to 110th.
Most blocks that dead end into Morningside Park between 110th and 123rd are actually very nice

Some of the best local grocery stores are along Broadway in the 70s and then 106 to 110th
Riverside Paek, Central Park and Morningside Park are all very nice and very accessible from the blocks I named.

Inventory tends to be low as you get close to Columbia, especially for larger apartments.

make that West of Broadway nice all the way to 120th instead of 116

Is there a lot of zigzagging when walking to avoid being mugged?

Less than when avoiding your posts.

mimi "it really changes block to block"

well...really depends on how much you want to pay!

http://nychousewhisperer.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-life-in-west-side-90s.html

"Less than when avoiding your posts."

LMAO!!!!!

How much and how soon will the Columbia campus expansion affect this area positively/negatively?

Columbia's begun some infrastructure construction on their expansion, but that is (I think) a separate area from what's being discussed here. The former is from Broadway westward on the few blocks between 125th and 133rd (which is a much smaller area than it sounds, because 125th wanders off the grid on its westernmost blocks.

What's being discussed are (mostly)
1. Morningside Heights proper, west of Morningside Park from 110th to 125th (but most would exclude Morningside Gardens)
2. The nameless section of Harlem that's east of Morningside Heights, which I would define as 110th to 125th, with 8th Ave as its eastern boundaries ... but others will define differently.

As I've said before on SE, I don't think Columbia has magical powers to improve or stabilize neighborhoods. I think the campus expansion is a positive development and a great use for an area that doesn't really lend itself to any better repurposing (nor does it have much purpose as is) ... but let's remember how bad Columbia's immediate neighborhood became in the 1970s, both in Morningside Heights and near their Medical Center / Med School in Washington Heights.

Mimi, I concur with alanhart. Sing to Simon and garfunkel, zig zagging away.

The Columbia expansion will be much more modest than their communications office would have you believe. The money is simply not there after the hit the endowments and alumni/ae giving is taking on the elite private universities. Salary freezes, hiring freezes, etc. are the new normal, and that's not changing anytime soon. Anyone who buys in Harlem banking on Columbia to keep property values afloat is taking a HUGE risk.

i agree with cherry
the columbia expansion is a non-issue. Even now very few Columbia faculty consider the area below Morningside Park, and the improvements there have come largely due to city initiatives that are bringing in higher end housing and quite a few middle class renters or buyers. The high and low income people are reasonably well served in NYC. The middle income (upper middle for the rest of the country) are poorly served. That is the group that could end up in Harlem, and if they do the area may improve dramatically. It is not about race, or crime but affordability and schooling + related life options. As people have noted crime rates in the areas mentioned here are not a factor relative to other parts of Manhattan.

I don't disagree with cherrywood, but I want to add that the actual buildout of the expansion was originally projected to occur over ten or fifteen years, so I'm not sure if the current economy will really alter that timeframe much.

Joe, your post confused me a bit, so would probably also confuse people who are less familiar with the area. I think you meant that few Columbia faculty would consider the area east of (or, literally, at a lower altitude than) Morningside Park and the campus ... whereas the campus expansion is northwest, not east, of the campus.

I'm curious to see how all the low-key new-construction doormannned 80/20 rental buildings fare around 8th & Manhattan Aves north of 116th. Can they continue to draw rents for the 80% sufficient to sustain upkeep, etc.? Were they planned so long ago that the deals assumed much lower rents anyway?