Yorkville: honest opinions?

Of course you don't ... If you did, you'd refer to it as the Upper East Side (which it's near).

I'd avoid 86th and even 79th, but most of the other streets are perfectly fine, some can be quite charming. The obvious pros are fairly cheap rents (it's all relative in this city, isn't it?), a good amount of good, cheap food, Carl Schurz, and a safe neighborhood. The cons are the hike to the trains (somewhat mitigated if you're around 86th and have the benefit of the 4/5), the underwhelming amount of good bars (way too fratty and faux-Irish), and the relative pain it is to get anywhere else in the city. The crosstown buses are better than most given them credit for. I used them all the time back in my Columbia days.

Yorkville seems too far from the subway for me.

But then again, I'm lazy.

86th street
east of first: no commercial traffic.
That actually quiets down the block considerably.
West of first on 86th....hope you like retail.
If the subway is not your main mode of daily transport then Yorkville is a dream.
East End Ave is my favorite. My wife refer to it as the dark side of the moon.

Where is Yorkville? Long Island?

86th is just like the 34th but pretending to be residential, that's my beef. All big box stores and nondescript stock.
alan, correct, I don't consider Yorkville to be UES proper, the same way I don't consider Lincoln Center and Trump(y) Riverside Boulevard to be UWS proper.

86 is busy but aint even close to 34th. 34th is the armpit of NY. Yorkville is a great community with its own merits. You have to go walk the streets to see it. So many beautiful townhouses and little restaurants sprinkled in between....yeesh and Im not even a broker.

I'd echo bjw on avoiding 86th and add that north of 86th doesn't have much going for it either. Not sure what his issue is with 79th; it's mostly residential to 86th St's mostly retail. As noted, 86th at least has the convenience of the subway and bus, although I think the former is a lot more appealing if you're at 3rd or 2nd than east of 2nd. Re: becoming more residential east of 1st, this is true, so you mostly get away from the low-end retail and foot/commercial traffic issue, but it's generally pretty basic post-war coops and rentals. Not much character and not high end residential at all, except for a handful of new condos (e.g., 170 EEA) and a few hoity-toity coops right by the river (e.g., Gracie Square). Overall impression: blah. But being somewhere where the cool kids don't want to live makes it quite affordable blah, which has its merits.

Let's zero in on those condos. The Channel Club (455 E 86)?

yorkville is the cool kids

sideline, 79 is definitely much better than 86. I'd only avoid it insomuch as the extra traffic/noise compared to other streets. But that's in an ideal world. If you find a great deal on 79th, it could definitely be worse.

2nd avenue subway comin...New 2bn engineering campus on roosevelt island....Yorkville right in the middle!!!!!

I've been living in the area for almost 6 years. It wasn't my first choice, as I didn't think it had as much character as other parts of the city, but the affordability was a key factor.

And to be honest I really love it. It has a nice neighborhood vibe, good array of restaurants, and x-town busses and the Lex make it more accessable than I'd thought. And with Fairway in the mix it's gotten even better.

The opinion varies depending on the person living there. For families, it's strictly ok. It can be a trek to mass transit but if you have a car & pay parking, the it isn't that bad.

Problem is the shopping/lifestyle there is straight-forward. Nothing exciting, but not an industrial dump. Personally, I would NOT want to venture north of 86th Street, as it's a dead man's land.

yorkville provides small town living in manhattan. love it.

only time i go N of 57th is for CP or access to parks on the rivers.. that's it

great for kids....asphault green, the park.....nice and quiet.........if you dont need the train you are set...........i drive....and there are always spots around because its so residental....

It's great for families with kids. Most of the buildings (I'm referring to the high-rises) have doormen and other amenities (ours has doorman, gym, and playroom). 79, 86, and 96th streets can be crowded, but if you stick to the other streets it's fine. Plenty of restaurants and stores. Yes, the only subway line is on lexington, but if you stick to buses, cabs, and walking, it's not bad. Yorkville has the best of both worlds, with avenues like 3rd for more commercial use (we eat dinner on 3rd almost every night) and more residential avenues like east end. My problems with yorkville is that you either have a great view (because of all the short tenements) or a terrible view (because of all the towers), it falls short of mid-rise prewar doormen buildings (above 86th street mainly), and the best residential avenue (in my opinion) is east end, which is a long way from the subway, central park, and most other things.

i once rented, while renovating, on a hi floor on 87th and 3rd--thought it would be awful, but it was quiet as could be, and incredibly convenient to movies, restaurants, and barnes and noble--parking nearby on weekends was tough--

UES is what it is--only reason to live there is for proximity to children's schools--kids launched, i launched

You could rename it........

THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

"Yes, the only subway line is on lexington"

The select 15 line on second/first avenues often moves as fast as the subway. Leaving for work at 7 AM I actually got to work five minutes FASTER than the subway.

But I would not bet on that at 10 AM.

e 86 street too close to the projects and amigos

What is the situation with public schools?

Do a search for PS 6, it is on 81st between Park and Madison and is considered one of the top elementary schools in the PS System.

Yorkville is not zoned for P.S. 6.

P.S.158
Mediocre as it gets.

Part of Yorkville is zoned for PS 6, not all.

PS 158 has higher scores than PS 6

I did say it was one of the top schools...

I would have 3 concerns about buying in Yorkville and they are as follows:

1. Lots of Inventory

2. Lot of Inventory

3. Lots of Inventory

If you buy a condo and want to sell it be prepared to wait a while unless you price it extremely aggressively. There is just too many choices for potential buyers. Even if you want to rent your condo out don't expect to get top dollar for renting your place. Way too many condo's available in that area.
Probably one of the cheapest areas to rent in Manhattan.

PS 290 is the main school for Yorkville and the new school 151. 290 is a great school but it is overcrowded as are most of the best schools. 158 is further downtown so I guess part of Yorkville is zoned for it.

"86th is just like the 34th but pretending to be residential, that's my beef. All big box stores and nondescript stock."

So much unlike... everywhere else in Manhattan.

I mean... 15 CPW has a BestBuy in it.

The people have spoken... they want the big box stuff...

>I mean... 15 CPW has a BestBuy in it.
The people have spoken... they want the big box stuff...

Really? How is Best Buy doing these days?

i really like yorkville and i always have. it's not nearly as antiseptic as ues proper, there are still lots of locals there because it never really took off as a status nabe the way uws did, lots of stuff for kids, lots of garages. i like it. if it didn't become white hot with the bubble it never will, so if i bought my little home there i know i wouldn't be rolling in free money a year from then, but at the same time, i would know that as the closest thing to a solid middle class neighborhood that exists below 96th street, it probably won't deteriorate too much in quality of life. prices is another story.

Once you get east of second its very paecefull. I love it. So many beautiful town houses between 1st and east end ave.

yorkville--a great family neighborhood, with excellent private, public and parochial schools; all an easy walk--a great place to rent, too--plenty of stock--a bad place to buy--even if rest of city bases and rallies, supply will keep a lid on yorkville--2nd ave subway construction mess will go away soon, but the trains won't run til after your kids have gone to college and you are long gone to more interesting nabe; so i consider that a wash at best

Theres not that much supply in yorkville. everything east of 2nd is developed for the most part. admittedly the tower on 92 is a bust but georgica and Brompton have done well.

I've seen that Yorkville has both a family and very young vibe. I think it all depends upon how much activity you want around you, even on weekends. Even midtown has potential if this is what you seek.