West 90's or far West 60's/low 70's

The West 90's have older buildings and a lot of Mitchell Lama's that have been privatizing over the past 5 years. There was a time when W 86th St. was considered the "DMZ". As the neighborhood rebounded and Trump started building, the W 90s became attractive. There are far fewer newer buildings with all the amenities justifying the higher sales prices.

The West 60's and 70's have more new, pricey buildings giving a boost to the price of the older buildings. That's now the "hot area" on the UWS.

Why not go a little farther north to Morningside Heights? With the expansion of Columbia above W 125th St. and the gentrification of W 125 St, the area is becoming more attractive while the prices are still low. Look at Morningside Gardens for a family friendly place. It was the first coop in the city, built in the 1950s and has tons of amenities. http://mhhc.coop/.

Morningside Gardens has 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, some with huge terraces you can enclose and heat/air condition. The prices are under 900K.

The far West 60s/70s is more remote and will generally be a longer walk to the subway, stores and other neighborhood amenities than the West 90s. There is more retail coming in on West End in the low 60s, as well as on Freedom Place, but generally speaking, you will have to walk farther to do most things than you would in the West 90s. The far West 60s, however, have buildings like Lincoln Guild and Lincoln Towers, which generally have larger units relative to their cost and maintenance, as well as a lot of parking. If you live in the West 90s, you will likely be a closer walk to retail and the subway. You also have an express train stop for the 2/3 which is a really great neighborhood amenity. Columbus in the West 90s is not the most attractive of avenues, however, the blocks west of Columbus are just as nice as the rest of the UWS. Plenty of families live in both areas of the UWS. Values in both parts of the neighborhood have been increasing at the same pace as the rest of the UWS, but you can probably still get more bang for your buck in the far West 60s (assuming you’re not talking about living on Riverside Blvd).

Dan Gotlieb
Digs Realty
digsrealtynyc.com
Up to 2% cash back for homebuyers

We have lived in the West 90s for five years now. IMHO the cons are:

it's way noisier than you would think;
the retail is really poor (the area has a coffeehouse nearly every block, but can't sustain a bookstore, a decent clothing store, or more than two child-friendly restaurants), and
many of the activities you might want to do (like visiting museums or going to the movies) will involve traveling out of the neighborhood.

That said, anywhere you live in the neighborhood you will be near a beautiful (and rather underused) stretch of park, which is a huge, huge pro. In addition, up here it feels like you have a choice of two orientations -- south to the more amenity-filled parts of the UWS or north to Harlem, where the shopping and restaurants are better -- which is also, in my mind, a big plus.

ali r.
{downtown broker}