Sutton Place

Thank you very much for the heads up.
I always wanted to buy in the Excelsior - 57 and 2nd. The apartments stay on the market for a very long time in spite of what seem to be low prices and amenities in the builoding.. Aside from the 50% down payment, does anyone know of other factors that inhibit sales?

very high maintenance in this building

traffic is a nightmare and it is very noisy. Hate crossing street there with my kids.

Sutton Place has panache

The area is beautiful but there is also a tower going up on First at 52nd & there is a lot of traffic on First.

When completed I think a Whole Foods market would be a positive for neighborhood.

where in the article was whole foods mentioned? i didn't see it...

In that area I too think that it would be a positive but you've got how long of noise & dust & awfulness to get there? A poster on another thread said that they keep taking away the shops & services in the area. The shops & restaurants on the east side of First just north of 52nd are out now in anticipation of the new construction.

Anybody else live over that way & can share with us? Thanks.

My wife and our family two girls 4 and 1 moved to east 57th last year and love it. Not only is the cost per sq foot lower than UES, but more families are showing up in the neighborhood. Another new addition!!! I finally think there are more baby carriages with enfants in them then elderberries pushing their dogs!!!! I too would welcome a Whole Foods for I think the Bridge Market has nothing to offer young families.

The Bridge Market looks very chic & the architecture is just amazing. Are there just lots of chi chi products & no pablum? What are the other shops over there that you like?

The neighborrd still has a Butcher,fish monger, and cheeese shop on 52nd and 1st.. We like to call it eh "trinity".

That is still there & safe; not affected by the closings on the east side of First just north of 52nd? Hope so!

Beware of very high liquid asset requirements in most buildings here. On an average one bedroom in a post-war building after 30% down they wanted AT LEAST $500,000 in liquid assets (will not include IRAs or 401ks).

You're over there & apparently well informed. Is it true, as one poster said, that they're taking all the nice shops out & putting new towers in their place? Hope not. I do think it is a special area.

Where did you get your info about the Whole Foods ????
http://www.nysun.com/article/49748
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01052007/business/whole_foods_taste_for_west_side_tower_business_lois_weiss.htm

This area will be great 3-4 years from now and a nightmare until then. So busy as it is now.

The guys at wired certainly agree that this area will improve with this new development - ugly buikding comes down, new school and condo go up plus 200,000 of retail space:

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10981

Some of the coops there are slowly coming into this century and starting to ask brokers on how to make their buildings more attractive (i.e. better prices for when they old biddies want to sell and move to Florida!).

In recent years our board has channeled resources into things that buyers notice - nice elevators, nice lobby, roofdeck and made the board process somewhat less prickly. When I moved in, it was not that way so these are nice changes.

For a starter apt in the city, in what I think is a good nabe, you should be able to find something nice here for $725 / sf