Apartment rentals New York with Second Avenue Subway

Classy, chic and comfortable—these are the words that are often used when describing the Upper East Side neighborhood of New York City. And now, here’s another adjective to throw into the mix: cool. At first, this may be a little hard to comprehend; after all, this Manhattan neighborhood has long had a reputation of being rather pricey, thereby keeping hip (but cheap) New Yorkers at bay. With its beautiful pre-war buildings that are located blocks away from Central Park, apartments on the Upper East Side have always been in high demand and, therefore, have been mostly out of reach for the “cool crowd.” But, of late, the homes here have suddenly become affordable, and the reason for that is, interestingly enough, coming from underground—the Second Avenue Subway construction.

Looks nice, doesn't it? A clean, modern subway station, a train pulling up right on time. Eventually, at some point in human history, something somewhat like the little image you see with this post will undoubtedly occur somewhere under Second Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. For all the things to recommend about Upper East Side apartment listings -- and there are plenty, starting with their relative affordability in comparison to other Manhattan rental apartments -- subway access isn't currently one of them. Sure, the 4/5/6 trains on Lexington Avenue run pretty well, but they're the only trains on the Upper East Side, and can get excruciatingly crowded (and sluggish) come rush hour. News that the long-rumored, longer-awaited Second Avenue Subway was really happening was the cause of much rejoicing both among Upper East Side renters and UES landlords, whose apartments seemed poised to become that much more appealing. Today brought the sad and sadly unsurprising news, though, that the Second Avenue Subway is both behind schedule and over-cost -- and not likely to arrive in time for its original 2016 launch.