Financial District (FiDi)

For a family I would give it a 1 out of 10 rating. No where to push a stroller. Most of those new buildings are full of studios, so good chance you will have loud partying neighbors, streets are still dirty with little light peaking through. Wall street is also like a military zone with armed patrols and police in military gear. Try to stay up a little higher more towards Battery Park where it is strollerville. Good Luck.

Disagree 100% with Going Down. Most of the new buildings have eyed the market and added 2-3 BR and larger. Cost per sft is best in the city. Strollers are everywhere and since traffic is light on the weekends, you can push them in the middle of the beautiful winding lanes that abound. Beautiful archotecture and nice history to share with the kiddos. Easy access to transport and parks.

My building is filled with families -- was at a 1 yr old Birthday party on Sunday with no less than 20 kids from the direct neighborhood. Also -- there is an unbelievable support group for moms in the 'hood that is filled with young Fidi families.

BPC is nice but sterile; Tribeca is great (used to live there) but seriously costly and starting to be overwhelmed; it is a 10 minute stroll if you really need a Bouley fix.

Buildings to take a look at: 59 John, Deco Lofts (def some leftover college kids there but huge spaces available), 15 Broad. Don't get scared by the "too hip" amenities in some of the buildings -- they are getting overrun with families and are changing with the times . . .

GoingDown apparently has a very poor sense of geography (look on a map and see where the Financial District and Battery Park City are relative to one another) in addition to being only passingly familiar with the neighborhood as a place to live.

I'd defer to people with families to answer your question, but most people who live in the neighborhood seem to be quite satisfied.

GoingDown has not being there lately.

Plenty of places to push a stroller.
Armed guards = safe streets.
Buildings have a decent mix of apts except for a few.

If anything the construction is annoying but he failed to mention that.

I really love this part of town. There are plenty of grocery stores,cleaners, drug stores, etc. South Street Seaport is just a minute or two away by foot and has some half way decent restauants and bars. And the reality of it is, it is Tribeca extended -- it is only a 5-10 minute walk to the heart of Tribeca. Also to Battery Park, and a handful of smaller parks, plus the water.

There are subways to just about everywhere in the city, particularly near Fulton Street.

The other thing -- Price per square foot tends to be a little less. It may go down a little bit the next year or so, but will surge as the WTC and transportation center gets underway and completed in the next few years.

Once the new WTC and transportation center are complete

If you would live in Battery Park City, I'd suggest living in Jersey City. Both are Manhattan-like facsimiles, much like Gotham from Batman and/or the computerized reproduction of New York in The Matrix movies.

Wow did not know sooo many brokers would get upset at my truthful statements. I have checkout out almost every property down there and thus my opinion. I would check it out yourself and don't let these brokers sway you.

Jordyn, it is quite a walk with a stroller from FIDI to BP. The nicest park there is outside of the River House and that is a hike for a mom and new born. Those streets in FIDI never get sunlight and are rarely clean. District was marketed to "younger" financial types and is full of 1 beds and studios. That Armani building is quite hardly family friendly in its design. I can go on and on if I need to but we will let nomad decide for himself I guess.

I have to agree with some of GoingDown's comments. I just moved out of Fidi, and have a 1 year old. The streets are narrow with very tall buildings, which means there is little light. I felt like I was under a cloud of concrete and steel. There streets are piled curb to curb with garbage bags from commercial buildings. It has many more families recently, but there is still plenty of college/20's riff raff and wild party types puking on the streets at 3 am. Battery park is not that far of a walk, but I have to agree that Battery Park City across the west side highway is 100% better for families. There is a proper park. There are proper grocery stores (both the Jubilee and Gristedes in Fidi are very poor grocery stores). And battery park city is full of families and only families. Plus, Fidi isn't the bargain it once was. If you ask me, Murray Hill or Madison Square North are nearly as affordable and much better suited for families. And I also have to agree about the spooky presence of military and swat teams with AK 47s on the street. To each his own...

I work all the downtown neighborhoods (Chelsea/Tribeca/SoHo/Village/BPC/FiDi) and I continuously draw the comparison of FiDi to Midtown West -- it's walk-to-work, it's canyon-y, it has some proximity to luxury shopping and few parks.

Whether that's where you'd want to have a kid depends a lot on your personality -- and, I think, where you work. BPC is much more suburban, but you lose some subway convenience too.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

I live in 80 John Street, I'd say there are about 10 to 20 kids living in this building, including mine. I like it here, it's nice having Jubiliee and Zeytuna across the street or down the block. It's very easy to get around, although it does get quite crowded on weekdays. My daughter likes south street seaport, washington market park (10 to 15 minute walk), battery park city playgrounds (15 minute walk). As a parent, everything you need, including preschools, banks, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. are right outside your door, and Front Street and Stone Street are nearby places where you can go to a nice restaurant and sit outside with your kid. Tribeca and Soho are a short walk away. The Fulton Street playground is pretty bad. I find the recent addition of the Pace University dorm down the street means that there is activity at all hours, which makes the area seem safer (although statistically it is the safest neighborhood in any major us city). 2 Gold Street and some of the other buildings around do seem heavy on the frat boys, but I think most of them are polite and pleasant enough. Good luck.

Great feedback! Extremely useful to hear everyone's FiDi perspective. Any concerns with the future or effects of office-condo conversion? Maybe too much supply in future and hard to re-sell unit if need to? There was a mention in the Downtown Express about rezoning for schools in the BPC/Tribeca/FiDi area. Does this pose any concerns for parents? At this point, my wife and I are just waiting for the dust to settle from all this turmoil. We are doing our due diligence and hoping to pounce on the right opportunity. Thanks again to everyone!

There's been a FiDi Blog these past two years (www.fidi25broad.blogspot.com) that has quite a bit of information on Real Estate news and FiDi's challenges (Good & Bad)

FIDI BLOG CORRECTION: http://fidirealestate.blogspot.com/

nyc_nomad, no time to dig it up now, but on another FiDi thread a few months back I posted a link to an article in the Real Deal that was talking about the combined effect of growing inventory and slowing sales.

I lived on Gold St a few years ago, and I'd say the best part of living there was the transportation. As for a "neighborhood", it sucked. Granted, I'm not family-oriented (just lived w/my girlfriend), and I realize Gold St was pretty crappy, but if Jubilee wasn't so close, I would've flat-out hated it there. No neighborhood dive bars I could stand (most were overrun with frat-boys) and the Seaport just attracted droves of tourists with nothing much for someone who lived nearby. On the flip-side, Paris had one of the best burgers I've had in NYC, and apartments are pretty big for the price (by far the cheapest price-per-sq-ft area I've lived). The area is pretty dead at night and weekends, and it's like a whole different country during weekdays- I disliked that aspect. I never noticed many families... rarely saw kids in strollers, except tourists on Fulton St, which don't really count. When I did see strollers, it was amusing seeing them bounce around on the cobblestones (many of the sidewalks are real narrow). All in all, I rank it as a very "blah" neighborhood... not "bad" so much as lame. Considering my favorite aspect was that it's got great transportation (read: you can leave and fun elsewhere), I think that says a lot. If Jubilee closed, it would have been horrible to live there.

If you are thinking about FiDi, check it out. Lots of markets, drug stores, gyms, dry cleaners. It borders on Tribeca, Battery Park City and the Seaport, so is in the middle of quite a lot. I find it to be a great place to live. Transportation is great. Wherever you live in Manhattan, you need to get to its other parts -- you can get anywhere from FiDi.

I personally find the narrow little streets charming, kind of European, and it is really developing much more of a neighborhood feel (minus townhouses/brownstones). It could use a few more trees.

Like all of Manhattan, it will likely face challenges in the next few years, but values will surge and the economy picks back up in a few years, and the WTC redevelopment takes shape.

Again, walk around the neighborhood. Come on down!

I understand where broadwayron is coming from, having lived here in those more quiet times as well, but the neighborhood really has livened up thanks to the thousands of new residents. While its certainly a million miles from being the east village in terms of nightlife, anybody who says he rarely saw a stroller in FiDi clearly hasn't been around in a few years. On many saturday mornings being here will make you think of Park Slope as much as anywhere else thanks to the stroller derby. Come back and visit sometime broadwayron.

mophantom - Thanks for the blog.
Tenemental - Thanks for the heads up on the Real Deal Article!

Tony and RJ1 - We also noticed the number of strollers hitting the streets of FiDi on the weekend...which is a pleasure surprise. We looked at 75 Wall and liked the furnishings and amenities but not too thrilled with the price and the small number of 2 to 3 bedrooms (mainly 1 bdrm and studios). Any other place worth looking at? Thanks!

You can check out the District and 99 John. The former is much nicer but pricer. 80 John and 90 William may each have a couple of units left.

I think FiDI has *great* potential long term, but I think it has challenges right now. Still lots of construction, blocked sidewalks, and its a ghosttown at night in most spots. The folks living there now seem to be mostly young kids sharing the cheap apartments.

BPC, particularly the northern part near chambers, to me seems a hell of a lot more family friendly.

I'm sure this will all be different in 10 years, but right now - and for at least a couple of years with the RE crunch - I think FiDi is going to leave a little to be desired for families.

FYI, a new green elementary school is being built at 55 Battery Place in the southern part of Battery Park City. September 2010 is the scheduled completion date.

Seems that FiDi has a little more to offer than BPC, particularly in terms of transportation and shopping. Both have their own special vibe, are little cheaper psf than other parts of Manhattan, and will appreciate quite a bit once the financial clouds lift and the World Trade Center is completed in a few years. I think I might feel differently if NYC-Manhattan was a driving city, but it isn't. Hence, my preference for FiDi.

nyc_nomad, here's the article:

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/financial-district-boom-slows

We can't wait to move into our apartment on John street this year. I'm 8 months pregnant and so excited to to be in FiDi with a newborn. It's quiet on the weekends and at night, but there are enough new residents that it's not a ghost town. We're a couple of blocks from South Street and I don't think BPC is a far walk at all. We owned in the West Village for 9 years and are now temporarily on the UWS. (I can't wait to get back downtown.)

wtf, you are moving from UWS to FiDi? Seriously, a rental would have been a good idea to test out your theories of how wonderful it will be to live there.

Funny thing about all these new luxury condos. The sales teams keep pointing out the tax abatements ... but the buildings are so loaded with amenities, the common charges push up the total monthlies, usually to a higher figure than your standard doorman buildings in other parts of town without pools, spas, lounges etc.

And as for entertainment ... there's no nightclub in the area. And while there are bars, they're not swanky places like in Meatpacking. I've checked out Stone Street. They're SPORTSBARS! I didn't come to Manhattan to party in a sportsbar.

In the way of fine dining, there's Les Halles and Delmonico's ... but then what ?

If these condos had lower price tags 20-30% lower, I'd think FiDi would be a good deal. But why pay top dollar to live there when other parts of the city offer more?

Hey, to each their own. We've been on the UWS 8 months and are beyond ready to move; it's just not for us. (Not that I can't understand why it's perfect for someone else.) After living in NYC for 15 years, FiDi's access to public transportation and the Hudson River park/BPC, plus having a good public school and extreme quiet is all we could ask for to start a family. Plus, after owning in a lower-end co-op in the West Village, we're excited for the amenities in our new condo. All I can say is that the trade-off makes complete sense for us ...

It seems like all of the haters say the same thing -- there are no nightclubs or expensive restaraunts.

You are 100% right .. . and thank god!

As has been stated over and over. Fidi is NOT the neighborhood for:
1) Hip overpriced restaraunts that go out of business in a year
2) Swanky martini bars with a B&T crowd
3) Bustling streets 24/7

It is definitely great for;
1) Quiet weekends and safe, safe, safe streets
2) Cozy neighborhood finds (coffee shops and pubs) and restaraunts that welcome strollers (we are regs at Les Halles, Acqua, etc. with the kiddo, and always are joined by a few others ofr the kiddie early bird)
3) Big apartments and excellent access to transportation
4) Minutes from by far the best, cleanest and safest park in the city (Rockefeller/Wagner Parks)

I have lived in the UWS/UES in my 20's, Murray Hill in my early 30's and now Tribeca/Fidi in my late 30's. I would have hated it too, in any of those other age groups, but for my family (and the 30 other families we are having over for a kids Bday party next week) it is the best possible fit in NYC.

micrina -- you should check out the HRP Mamas group. It is a great social group for young moms in the neighborhood -- with almost 1000 members. No other neighborhood in the city has any type of community group even close.

mark, good on you for that post. Way too much verbiage is spilled on this board from people trying to tell others their neighborhood is crap. If you love where you live, 's all that matters.