Beekman Place

Great neighborhood. Quiet, tranquil, chic. Solid investment. I lived there for two years and loved it. Not exciting and no "flava" but you can't have everything . . .

I lived there for 4 years. It's a great block but a nightmare during the General Assembly. Far to subway and a virtual desert once you leave the block. Most of the apartments have an unusually high maintenance possibly because insurance companies have deemed this a high risk location due to its proximity to the UN. Post 9-11 premiums doubled and tripled on Beekman Place with the costs passed on to shareholders.

Actually, I found the General Assembly once a year for a week as pretty darned entertaining ---- so people's opinions about this will vary. The high maintenances are because some of these buildings are so very white glove. I'd love to live there permanently but it's somewhat out of my price range unless I took a very, very small place. The buildings are gloriously lovely. The food and services nearby are all topflight and comfortable. The walks and East River views are wonderful. I'd say go for it.

Beekman Place is a wonderful micro-neighborhood, convenient to mid-town but secluded, private, tony and safe. I lived there for much of my childhood, and loved it. Pretty much all of the buildings are top of the line, old school white-glove. Up to the time my parents left our building in 2003 they still had an elevator operator! Surely a rarity in contemporary New York. Really emblematic of the whole (small) area, it feels like old New York. It is very close to mid-town (obviously convenient to so much industry), but is so secluded and I find the proximity to the UN charming. General Assembly is not a huge deal, kind of annoying, but it makes the whole neighborhood feel nicely international. While midtown East does not hold the cache of the UES, or the hipness of some downtown neighborhoods, it clears out on the weekend and feels like an actual New York neighborhood with actual New Yorkers, not like some other neighborhoods which are full of transplants. I am personally inclined to live downtown now, but I still love this neighborhood and if I ever do move further up this would be high on my list to look at.