Good UWS buildings for families

Strange as it might seem, nobody with a RE license can answer that question directly because of equal-opportunity housing laws.

On the other hand, if you just want a list of nice buildings on the Upper West Side that happen to have apartments with lots of bedrooms, plus kid-friendly amenities, that's no problem. What's your price range, and how many bedrooms do you need?

I used to live at 310 West End Ave (@ 75th) & it is a great building for families. Great location, young building, pretty easy-going board. The 2 bedrooms have an additional maids room and, though tiny, it is nice to have an extra room for either a nursery or office.

771 WEA (97th)

It might be easier to say which bldgs on the UWS are not great for kids. I'll assume you don't care about school catchment zones. This year is shaping up to be very interesting as PS87 and PS199 are supposed to be capped.

I'll start from the south. Lincoln Towers complex (140-205 WEA) - great kids' playrooms, huge outdoor playground/s, many children. Studio-3brs, many combos, dman. Trump-y buildings (80-240RSB), same, but more upscale, pool in most, if not all of the bldgs. All of WEA - I can't think of a bldg that is terrible for kids, once you omit the senior citizen housing. Majority don't have playrooms, range in size from studios to 10+room apts, many combos. Condition will vary greatly from white-glove co-ops to more run-down rentals. Ditto for RSD (though rentals are fewer in number) + you have greater proximity to all of RSD and playgrounds (less overrun by tourists and non-UWSers).

Side-streets tend not to have larger apts, except for combos, mix of rentals & co-ops, generally smaller in scale, elevator as opposed to full-service bldgs. I gather you're not interested in apts in THs?

Bway has mostly larger buildings ranging from the mostly 70s-90s era mix of rentals/co-ops/condos on Bway bet. 60th & 72nd to mostly prewar north of 72nd.

You interested in CPW?

Hey - I used to live at 310 West End, AND at 771 West End! Can't speak for 310, as I was a renter before the plan went through. I'd guess some of the families are the same - nice group mostly. Very comfortable building. 771 is the building I just left. I was on the board, and I can say we ran a good building. WE put in a huge roof deck, a bike shed, private storage lockers in the basement ( no charge for any of these, in accordance with house rules.) A biggish basement area is waiting to be made into a playroom when the $$ arises after the new elevators go in. Financially sound, nice families.

nyc10023 hit a key point: much depends on your school situation.

Also keep in mind that an adult's idea of a great building in which to raise a family (610 WEA, 175 RSD, San Remo, Beresford, Dakota, Eldorado, Apthorp, Belnord...) may be quite different from the buidings children actually like (Boulevard, Bromley, and - most heretical of all - Ariel West).

As West 81st pointed out, it's a question no real estate agent can answer, but if you want to call him or me or anyone else uptown (Klara Madlin comes to mind) we can show you a selection of apartments and make sure that what you want is in there.

You can't order hazelnut chocolates specifically, but we can show you a Whitman's sampler and make sure that a couple of hazelnuts are in there.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

^^ btw @West81st -- interestingly, I just placed buyer clients with two kids in a three-bedroom in the West 80s, and while we were shopping, this Fair Housing rule is the one rule EVERY listing agent broke. Tripped all over themselves to tell us how many kids were in the building.

ali

how about the century

I am 1000% behind fair housing laws and equal opportunity in housing. People I know have been "testers" (white and African American "renters" applying for the same apartment) so I know real discrimination still happens or at least did at the latter part of the 20th century. But this even I have to say is PC run amok. When I was looking for workweek housing while I worked in Virginia I asked a rental person if the complex was mostly families, young, singles, seniors etc. She told me the Fair Housing line and I almost lost it (an NYC liberal fighting fair housing in Virgina, gotta love it).

I said, "look I want to know if there are going to be a bunch of screaming kids. I don't care if they are white, black, yellow or sky blue pink with purple polka dot screaming kids" I want to know if there will be screaming. Its ridiculous, if I HAD kids I would only want to live someplace where there were lots of other kids and where the neighbors were inured to screaming and kid detritus. On the other hand if I were 25 and my priorities included loud music and frequent parties, I wouldn't want to live somewhere where families and seniors predominate.

A desire to live where your lifestyle will be best accommodated and tolerated is not the same as discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex or sexual orientation. Someone needs to figure out how to revise the regulations to make the distinction.

Ali thanks for the support

Klara Madlin

thanks all - sorry I should have been more specific - I'm looking to rent. Not too worried about school areas...and yes, just nice buildings with child-friendly amenities will do just fine. Ideally 70s/80s...but flexible for the right place. Saw a great one on 79th recently but wasn't quite ready to move so lost out

..

sorry about that. i haven't been able to post anything for the last 24 hours and wanted to see if it would work before typing a response. on top of that, i keep losing my internet connection.

macdonan - we went through the family-sized rental search last spring/summer (mostly 3 br apts). I don't remember seeing many, if any, rental buildings with playrooms. Not sure exactly what you're looking for in terms of amenities, but laundry on each floor is always nice when you have kids (the next best thing is having it in your unit but that's hard to find). two buildings that come to mind are:

West River House - http://streeteasy.com/nyc/search?search=west+river+house
If you don't mind living in a white box with low popcorn ceilings this place had some decent amenities and nice rooftop terrace. I don't think they have 3 br apts, but they do have convertible 2 brs where you can wall off the dining alcove to make a small 3rd bedroom or office. I think they have laundry on each floor but i may be confusing it with another building. 81st and WEA is a great location.

also, the building on the corner of 75th and Columbus w/ Duane Reade in the ground level. Can't remember the address or building name now, but if i do i'll post it. If I recall correctly, they have 2 and 3 br apts and have laundry on every floor.

do you have young kids who need to be in a stroller? if so, you'll want to think about # of stairs in the entrance and if you think you'll ever need a double you may want to consider elevator width. just something to keep in mind if you're trying to decide between a few different places.

btw - i personally think you can do better than the 2 buildings I mentioned in terms of price and space; they're just the two that stick out in my mind in terms of laundry location.

if you tell us what you want in amenities, we may be able to help more. also, how many bedrooms you're looking for. some of us don't have to abide by real estate ethics.

it just came to me. La Rochelle is the building on Columbus/75th. http://streeteasy.com/nyc/building/la-rochelle
It's my old block and the location is hard to beat.

hey - thanks. I live right by there now so love the location. 2 beds is fine - one small baby so yes, stairs with stroller are a consideration...don't mind a couple. As long as there is laundry in the building - and ideally one that is easily accessible with baby in tow...that helps. Playroom a nice to have but not necessary. Main thing really is space, renovated kitchen/bath, and ideally either character...or nice finishes if a newer building...and not too ridiculous pricing. Have viewed in the Sagamore which seemed quite nice, and a great pre-war in 79th. Friends live in one of the Trump buildings which is nice but the better apts are very pricey.

Wow - La Rochelle is really expensive - over 10k for a 2-bed! They are big (1600 sq ft) but still...

yeah, La Rochelle is a rip off imo. i just remembered the laundry. was also going to suggest sagamore. i'd recommend our building but i don't think anything is coming up (i asked our super recently). what's your price range? we looked at a lot of apts during our search so if you have specific bldgs in mind post them and someone here may know about it.

budget is around 4k...maybe a little more for the right place. will keep looking - thanks for your help. Do you know anything about Archstone 101 or The Regent?

or Greystone?

no, sorry. we didn't look at any of those. hopefully someone else here can offer some insight. good luck.

The newer upper west side condos offer pools and playrooms, good amenities for a family.

I've lived in the Regent. The apts are dated and not as new as the other rentals west of Columbus (Brodsky has a few buildings + Archstone). But you are a few steps closer to the subway station & Whole Foods & all the shopping up Columbus & Bway, which is worth a few hundred $ in my estimation. For a long time, Glenwood Mgmt (owner of Regent) prided itself on being a little cheaper than other rentals in the area - I'm not sure if that's true anymore. Also, with the state of the new condo resale mkt, you may get a better deal in the condo buildings in the area.

Laundry facilities in the Regent are on the 2nd floor - adequate, IMO but not open 24hours.

75 WEA. Nice playroom, gym w/ pool (not a good gym, but convenient), playroom. 2bd/2ba 1200sqft under 4k. It's at 63rd, a little south of desirable, but if you don't care about schools, it's convenient to parks.

uwsmom, fyi west river house is a nightmare in terms of services/getting anything done. additionally, as a landlord they are really bottom of the barrel.

We lived in the Boulevard which was a really great building for kids...live in the Belnord now which is a great building...but not a kid-building in the way the Boulevard was

mac - maybe check out 10 West 74th St. I don't really know anything about it (amenities, etc), but they have 2 br's in your price range and its a great location (cpw).

I almost bought an apt at the Blvd. Great amenities, sky-high mtce fees. Be good to rent there though and not have to worry about mtce.

nyc10023 - is high mtce the only thing that pulled you back from buying at the Blvd? Any other concerns you had? We are also looking at buying there. Thanks!

NYsky: nothing pulled me back. We signed the contract, the sellers decided not to sell (they still own there). In retrospect, I am so glad we didn't buy there. It was at the peak of the market. As you say, the mtce is sky-high, and we didn't look that closely at the replacement schedule of the various physical plants.
The apt we were in contract for had views of the river (which we knew were going to be gone with 535WEA). What sold us was the very expensive and well-done renovation - probably the one and only time I would have paid for someone else's reno job. While not 100% to my taste, I could tell that it was meticulously planned and executed.

NYsky: it's also a co-op with condo rules, so the usual cry of "but you couldn't rent there anyway" doesn't apply. There are always rentals at the Boulevard, so why buy?

UWS in the mid 90's to the low 100's West End Ave or Riverside Drive tons of great buildings and very very family friendly