Neighborhood Dive
Lowdown ON ThE Lower East Side With a new development selling at $4,000 a square foot, the area has come a long way from pushcarts
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By Kerry Murtha t’s not your Nana’s Lower East Side. From tenements to trendy glass buildings, investment has transformed the once old-world neighborhood into a downtown hotspot for 20- and 30-somethings. The clash between old and new is visible on nearly every street. Prewar walkups (some renovated) now rub elbows with luxury condominiums, sleek modern rentals and boutique hotels. Quaint pickle stores reside next to hip restaurants like Dirty French and Schapiro’s, which serves traditional Jewish cuisine with an Asian
twist. Art galleries offer up culture that is equal parts surprise and shock. No surprise that upscale changes translate into rising prices. The newest high-end condos are fetching $1 million to start, and average residential rents here have increased more over the past year than in any other neighborhood in Manhattan, according to MNS Real Estate. Meanwhile, retail rents have shifted north up to $150 per square foot as cheeky businesses and stylish cafés chase the day crowd. The Lower East Side stretches east from the Bowery to the East River Park. It is bordered on the north by Houston Street and the south by Canal Street and East Broadway.
Top 5 Developments
179 Ludlow Street
The last remaining community synagogue on the Lower East Side, at 415 East 6th Street, will soon sport three floors of luxury condominiums above it. East River Partners is building the addition on top of the 100-year-old Anshei Meseritz Congregation. The greatest selling point? “Buyers will be close to God,” quips East River Partners co-founder Jody Kriss. Stribling and Associates is handling the sales. When complete, 50 Clinton Street will have 37 high-end condo units that will range from one- to three-bedrooms, and start at $1 million. DHA Capital LLC purchased the property for $28 million in October. The Eklund Gomes Team at Douglas Elliman will be leading sales. 215 Chrystie Street — being developed by Ian Schrager and the Witkoff Group — is setting pricing records at $4,000 per square foot. The 25-unit building, designed by architecture
Ian Schrager Jody Kriss
Retail Scene
148 Madison Street
Restaurants dominate area retail. The vacancy rate is 5%; rents range from $80 to $150 a foot.
Price Trends
Demographics
$3,479
Population: 99,844 people, up 12.3% from 2010 and down 0.8% from 2000. Median Income: $48,374, up around 3% from 2010. Percentage of white-collar workers: 63.2% Percentage of blue-collar workers: 36.8% Median age: 36.1
Average rent in the neighborhood.
4.1%
Average rent increase last year, the biggest hike in any Manhattan neighborhood.
$940,000
Most expensive recent sales: 18 Orchard Street, #5: 2,306-square-foot condo, $3.9 million 40 Delancy Street, #9B: 1,000 square foot condo, $1.65 million 71 Ludlow Street: 1,648-square-foot space, $1.2 million 18 Orchard Street
Least expensive recent sales: 165 Henry Street, #302: 565-square feet, $315,000. 148 Madison Street, #7F: 520 square feet,$400,000 148 Madison Street, #6A: 485-square feet, $423,000 215 Chrystie Street
On the Market 215 Chrystie Street, PH 3: 4,236-square-foot penthouse, 4 beds, 4 baths at $18.75 million.
Essex Crossing
Median sales price, up from $900,000 a year ago.
A Commercial Broker’s Take “The most worrisome trend for the retail market right now is the slow and unreliant foot traffic during the week, which is putting pressure on property leasing values.” Louis Puopolo, Douglas Elliman
A Residential Broker’s Take
62 December 2014 www.TheRealDeal.com
firm Beyer Blinder Belle, touts sprawling penthouses of more than 4,700 square feet on the top three floors. Work has resumed at 179 Ludlow Street, which ran aground after its kick off in 2006. After changing hands several times, developer Michael Goldberg now plans to complete the project this year. The property will have 1,650 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, and six stories of floor-through units at a cost of $1.6 to $2.4 million each. Sales will be headed by Douglas Elliman. A new residential building of seven stories and 36 units is planned for 155 Attorney Street, the former Plantains Wholesale Beer warehouse. Developed by Midtown Equities, the property sold for $15 million and will have a total of 30,000 square feet of residential space, including a storage room, bicycle room and recreation room.
“From a condo standpoint, the Lower East Side is still affordable and is beginning to attract younger families getting priced out of Tribeca and the Upper East Side.” Andrew Barrocas, MNS Real Estate
Watch For... Essex Crossing, a development comprised of 1.9-million-square-feet of residential, commercial and community space to be built on sites stretching across the Seward Park area along Broome Street between Clinton and Suffolk streets. Mostly vacant since 1967, when construction begins in the spring it will commence one of the largest urban renewal projects in the city’s history. Completion is scheduled for 2023. TRD