Apartment rentals New York with New Neighborhoods

Starting in the fall of 2012, a world-class K-12 school will take root in West Chelsea, the first of its kind in this up-and-coming neighborhood. Apartment renters near the Avenues School, a “global school” that aims to build an international network of 20 schools all over the world, will find themselves next to one of the most innovative and forward-thinking New York City schools in recent memory. West Chelsea has already undergone a revolution of sorts thanks to the High Line Park – new construction of high-end luxury rental apartments has flourished in the past half-dozen years – but the Avenues School will usher in the next phase of transforming West Chelsea into a full-fledged neighborhood.

Recently, Luxury Rentals Manhattan posed a question that anyone searching for a NYC rental apartment has surely asked him or herself: "Are Manhattan rental apartments now a rich person thing?" It’s no secret that New York City is the nation’s most expensive place to rent, and although -- given how much more expensive it is to buy a Manhattan apartment -- renting in Manhattan still seems like the way to go, it's all relative: MNS’ figures show that in May 2011, rental prices increased by 6% from last year’s average. That's overall, though, and as anyone browsing Manhattan rental listings has surely noticed by now, rental prices, while high throughout Manhattan, are highly variable, even between bordering neighborhoods. Averaging studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom costs for each part of Manhattan shows that Tribeca is New York’s most expensive place to rent, while Harlem is the cheapest. That’s not particularly surprising, but some of their findings are. Contrary to popular belief, or common sense for that matter, renting in the Upper East Side is actually less expensive than renting in Greenwich Village, the Upper West Side, or Chelsea. So what does any of this have to do with rezoning North Tribeca and lowering housing costs?

We're on the record here at the Luxury Rentals Manhattan blog with our feelings about new neighborhoods. But if you need a refresher, we're willing to entertain the possibility that neighborhoods such as The Linc (i.e. Hudson Yards) and NoMad could become hot new Manhattan residential 'hoods, but we're not necessarily on board with the goofy names. NoMad is the not-so-convincing but also not-so-bad name given to the rising neighborhood on the fringes of Murray Hill and Gramercy. We write about NoMad not because we're lovers of real estate conjuncto-neologisms -- although, of course, who isn't? -- but because it's actually a really interesting young neighborhood, and home to a couple of excellent rental listings, most notably The Biltmore Plaza and Madison Belvedere. More importantly, though, NoMad has a real buzz about it, thanks in large part to destination hangouts like Ace Hotel, a host of new luxury condos, and a bumper crop of hot new eateries. To say that Eataly, the blockbuster new Mario Batali-helmed Italian food emporium, has become one of NoMad's signature landmarks is a huge understatement. Eataly, in just a few short months in business, has helped make NoMad one of Manhattan's hottest food neighborhoods -- and boosted this sub-neighborhood's fortunes even higher. Especially among those of us who enjoy prosciutto.