Will Everyone Go Running Back to Manhattan?
Crain’s recycles the question (asked by The Times a week earlier) that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days: Do falling Manhattan rents spell the end of Brooklyn? We don’t think so. Clearly some people who work in Midtown and were living in Brooklyn based on price alone (“If it’s as expensive in Brooklyn…
Crain’s recycles the question (asked by The Times a week earlier) that seems to be on everyone’s mind these days: Do falling Manhattan rents spell the end of Brooklyn? We don’t think so. Clearly some people who work in Midtown and were living in Brooklyn based on price alone (“If it’s as expensive in Brooklyn as Manhattan, I’d rather just be in the real thing, says one publicist) will return to Manhattan but, we’d bet, most of the creative professionals who’ve put down roots in the County of Kings are here to stay. Real housewife Alex McCord summed up how we—and, if this poll is to be believed, many others—feel when she told the paper, Even if we had Warren Buffett money, we would never leave.
Can Brooklyn Keep Its Mojo? [Crain’s]
Brooklynites Jumping Ship to Manhattan? [Brownstoner]
Photo by cornell100
“Then on Sunday I did the Brooklyn thing including Clover Club, Robin Du Bois, Union Hall, and Al Di La.”
Wow – that sounds like an epic Sunday. I bet you’re feeling good now.
I’ve had similar experiences with visitors, LincolnSlope – we’ll do the manhattan thing one day, and brooklyn the next, and people will realize you can get almost anything in Brooklyn that you can in Manhattan – but at a more relaxed pace.
I had some guests visit this weekend. Saturday I took them around NYC to the Villages, SoHo, Upper East Side. Then on Sunday I did the Brooklyn thing including Clover Club, Robin Du Bois, Union Hall, and Al Di La. Their response was the same as mine. Manhattan was kinda OK, but in the words of my best friend after our brunch at Sarabeth’s in the Upper West Side “If I had to live among these douchey weirdos who put ascotts on their 3 year olds I would punch my own face to pass out and forget I existed.” There are plenty of douches in Brooklyn, but all in all, its just a great place to live. I can afford to live in Manhattan and from the moment I moved here, I bypassed Manhattan and went straight for Brooklyn. Would never ever ever live there. FInd for work, but just feels Diney, superficial, and kinda gross.
haha CWB – damn creative professionals!!
I think Greenpoint/Bushwick are pretty comparable to LES circa 02-03 – especially where I was (east of essex)
People don’t realize how damn close Greenpoint is to midtown. If you live near the G train, it’s 2 stops to the E/V at court square, then one stop to 53rd and Lex. From the Nassau Ave G stop it’s probably about 20 minutes, no further then Essex/Delancey to Rockefeller Center on the F.
If someone is paying 900 bucks a month, living alone, near plenty of amenities with a 20 minutes commute i think that’s a pretty good deal.
You just have to have a penchant for aluminum siding rather then brown sandstone and limestone.
tybur6 – Well, yes, a lot of the people on this site mean “northwest Brooklyn” when they talk about Brooklyn … but even northwest Brooklyn still has a lot of people living in it who aren’t six-figure “creative professionals.” They just rent, and live on the noisy avenues in walk-ups, rather than owning brownstones on the nicest streets.
I lived in Manhattan for years before I started making six figures. Pretty sure I could’ve lived in the area of Brooklyn I now live in – Park Slope, which is cheaper than where I lived in Manhattan – without making six figures.
As a web designer, though, I guess I’m technically a “creative professional,” and a fairly well paid one at that, so I should probably shut up. 🙂
dirty-hipster, Kensingtonian – fair enough, I guess those aren’t “fringe” areas, but I’m not sure I’d compare them to the LES … you’re talking about a pretty substantial increase in commute to get to any of those places vs. the LES, assuming you work in Manhattan.
cwb, you can.
There are currently studios in Kensington, Midwood, Gravesend area for 900-950 and not bad ones at all (about 450 sq. feet or larger).
CWB – I’ve been seeing studios popping up in Greenpoint and Eastern Williamsburg (montrose L and further) for 900-1200 bucks. I don’t really consider these areas “fringe” – but hardly prime.
> “Let me know when I can get a studio again on the LES for 900 bucks”
Let me know when I can find that in a “creative professional” part of Brooklyn.
Snark…thats really the only thin I miss about living in Manhattan…walking to work. I did it for 13 years amd I’m not much in love with my fellow subway commuters!!!!
BTW, I live in Brooklyn and I’m certainly NOT a “creative type.”
dirty hipster –
Can you even get a studio in any part of Brooklyn that’s comparable to the LES for $900? I thought they were higher than that still except in “fringe” areas like Bushwick, Bed Stuy, and the like.