Park Slope vs. Upper West Side
I have been reluctant to post this question, but here it goes. My partner of 8 years and I currently live in the West 60s in Manhattan. I have had a thing for Park Slope brownstones since I first visited the area as a teenager in the ’80s, and over the last year or so…
I have been reluctant to post this question, but here it goes. My partner of 8 years and I currently live in the West 60s in Manhattan. I have had a thing for Park Slope brownstones since I first visited the area as a teenager in the ’80s, and over the last year or so we have increasingly considered moving into one.
The pros of our current situation are that we have owned our apartment for about 7 years and generally like it a lot. It’s a fully renovated pre-war on a high floor with unobstructed views of Central Park. We can both walk to our jobs in midtown and have many nearby amenities (restaurants, Fairway, Whole Foods, movie theaters, etc.). The cons are that our apartment is only a one-bedroom (a guest bedroom and dining room would be great), it’s costly (maintenance fees, etc. of $2k/month), we’ll never be able to afford a two-bedroom version of our apartment (five-room, park-view condos are double the price of the brownstones we’ve looked at; co-ops are not as bad, but the board requirements are prohibitive) and our neighborhood is becoming less and less of a neighborhood (new high-rises and big box stores all over the place — we mainly live here because of the convenience factor and our view).
The pros of Park Slope are that it has a real neighborhood feel, it’s downright beautiful and the people seem great. Also, we can probably afford a pretty decent brownstone. The cons are the commute to work (30-40 minutes on the subway, based on our test runs), losing the conveniences of a full-service building (doorman to accept deliveries, etc.) and, well, it’s just the two of us and we don’t have kids to fill up a house, so there’s the guilt factor — a whole house for just two people seems decadent. However, I don’t think we would move to Park Slope to live in an apartment — the idea of owning a brownstone is really the draw.
We’ve thought about more “neighborhoody” areas of Manhattan that we like, such as the Village and West Village, but the houses there will forever be out of our price range, we don’t want to live in a loft or a modern glass building, and the pre-war, non-loft apartment stock downtown isn’t that great (mostly one-bedrooms and so-so combinations). Here’s one more fact for the mix — we have a small weekend house about two hours out of the city, we spend at least half of our weekends there and we intend to keep it. So, should we give Park Slope a try, or should we just stay put? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Truly sorry if all this just sounds annoying.
I would spend some time in park slope, i mean really spend some time there. Try some restaurants, bars, and really get a feel for the vibe at different times of the day. Also cross flatbush and check out vanderbilt and walk up to washington in prospect heights. Certainly a lot fewer strollers and a different vibe. I think it’ll hit you one way or the other if you really put in some time getting to know the place.
To help with the commute, i would focus your house search in the north slope or the first block or 2 of prospect heights, close to the Q train. It really is pretty quick to canal and union square.
And I also agree that prospect park, relative to use, is better…
if it weren’t for the weekend house I’d say go for ParkSlope brownstoner. As someone with brooklyn house (with 2 rentals) and upstate wkend house, it becomes too much responsibility.
I lived for a couple of years in the UWS but moved back to Park Slope. I’ve found that I like Park Slope a lot better, mostly for its smaller scale, more and better little restaurants, better independent shopping, and way less crowded trains (there’s also that cool indigo color the evening sky gets at season changes). My commute is actually better now, but I work downtown, not midtown. I do miss Riverside Park and being able to see a river.
Now that I live in the Northish instead of Center Slope I’m not too troubled by strollers. I used to live on 8th Ave. and Montgomery and the stretch between Garfield and Carrol on 7th was very difficult to navigate on all weekends and most evenings due to stroller traffic.
why not try prospect heights? It’s close to Prospect Park, only 5 min walk to Park Slope and pretty much has the same brownstone housing stock you are looking for and a great express commute with the B/Q/2/3 trains….
As someone who has spent most of his life living in both nabes, first the UWS, then various nabes in Brooklyn, you’re asking about a trade-off that most Manhattanites have to deal with sooner or later. That is, the amenities and conveniences of Manhattan vs. the space of Brooklyn. Whole lotta people sell that cramped 1BR to buy that 3br or whole house. Neither is perfect.
When I get to be a certain age, I plan to sell my house, move back to Manhattan, and buy an apt exactly like the one you have. In fact, if I was seventy, I’d trade you right now 🙂
I disagree with the comments about CP vs. PP. CP is packed like a zoo in the summer compared to PP, and in fact Olmstead is said to have preferred PP over CP. Of course you will be giving up Riverside Park as well, and I don’t think the Gowanus Canal can equal that.
If you have a car you will find it much easier (but not easy) to keep in on the street in PS.
I highly recommend spending some time in park slope after work and especially on the weekends – in the restaraunts, bars, sidewalks etc. so that you can judge for yourself of the “entitled parents with kids” vibe. It is definately there, but everyone reacts to it differently.
Also, is your weekend house 2 hrs to the north? I used to commute upto Hudson every weekend from bklyn and it can easily add an hour to commute time. Both up the WSH and the BQE.
I agree with the why, look at cobble hill area too.
LowerUWSider:
Consider other neighborhoods such as BoCoCa (sorry, Cobble!) and Fort Greene which may reduce the commute. You won’t have panoramic CP views but we have lovely views of trees and rowhouses here.
I moved here from the Village where almost everything I needed was within a couple of blocks and open 24 hours. Brooklyn doesn’t have that level of services but it’s easy to adapt and worth it for the delightful neighborhoods. One thing I’ve found that makes Brooklyn more convenient is that there are lots of “handymen”, electricians, plumbers, etc. that are less expensive and more available than in Manhattan.
You touched on the biggest negative of the area: too many kids with parents who have a tremendous sense of entitlement!
As for social activities, Brownstoner gatherings can’t be beat!
Best of luck with you decision.
All great advice. Your posts are by far outpacing my responses!
As for the garden rental, I agree with Dave. We want the staircase in our unit to be fully open floor to floor, so I think we would avoid having a tenant above us.
By the way, does anyone have any thoughts on the 17-foot limestones on 4th bewteen PPW and 8th? One was on the market for a short time recently. We took a look at it and, although I know many people despise anything narrower than 19 feet, the scale of that house seemed right for our purposes. Those houses are really just 3 floors (the English basement is too far below grade to be anything more than a cellar), and the houses were originally built with ground floor kitchen extensions out back, which solves that whole kitchen-in-the-basement dilemma.
As you can see, despite what may be the right answer with respect to our potential move (i.e., staying put), I can’t let it go.
NSR…you can not allow the tenant to use the yard. Or, as in my case, I built a parlour floor deck and I pretty much use that exclusively. I really didn’t want to be going up and down the inside stairs to get to the yard anyway. There’s a cement pad below the deck that the tenants can use but from the deck stairs & beyond it’s all planted so I just look out upon the garden from the deck.
Here’s the pics….
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/12/got_a_garden_sp.php#more
Believe me, losing your common stairway space to a tenant above you seems really bad.