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| neighborhood profile |
| Hell's
Kitchen and Midtown West |
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| Marseille
on Ninth Ave. (Photo: Buff Strickland) |
Known for: Young, monied professionals
and a sizable gay community have joined the blue collars and largely
Latino old-timers calling Hell's Kitchen home. Now you'll find chichi
boutiques among the many reasonably priced ethnic restaurants that
dot Ninth Avenuetrendy bars and restaurants are even popping
up on the strip south of seedy Port Authority. Locally owned shops
and cheap eats are supplanted by chain stores and gawking tourists
once you head east of Eighth Avenue and into Midtown West.
Boundaries: Roughly 59th to 40th
Streets, and bounded by the Hudson River and Fifth Avenue; Eighth
Avenue demarcates the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and the impersonal,
tourist-heavy Midtown West.
Borders: The Upper
West Side and Chelsea sandwich Hell's
Kitchen; Central Park, Midtown East,
and the Flatiron District surround Midtown West.
Subway stops: The A, C, E line
services the eastern edge of Hell's Kitchen, while the 1, 2, 3, 7,
9, N, Q, R, S, and W trains all stop at Times Square. |
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OUTLOOK
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The basics:
The new generation of Hell's Kitchensorry, Clintonresidents
are folks who started looking on the Upper West Side, then realized
they could enjoy much the same lifestyle south of Lincoln Center.
For the past century, the typical apartment here was a walkup tenement;
now it's a luxury rental with fancy condo finishes: grandiose lobby,
lots of granite, high-speed Internet access, health club.
What's new:
The 42nd Street corridor used to be the armpit of the city,”
says Andrew Heiberger, president and CEO of Citi-Habitats. “Now
it's become a flower.” A handful of luxury-rental buildings
have gone up in that area in the past few years. “Midtown
has become a much easier sell,” says Corcoran's Barbara Matter.
And don't forget the $1.7 billion Time
Warner Center on Columbus Circle, with 201 luxury condos priced
from $2.4 million to upwards of $40 million.
Bargain hunting:
A preponderance of new luxury rentals means discounts: up
to three months’ free rent and sometimes even moving expenses
or a health-club membership. For purchases and rentals alike, prices
fall as you head west, away from midtown offices and the train.
Prediction: To everyone's great amazement,” says Robert
Clepper, a broker at William B. May, “sales have been stable.”
Chalk it up to the newcomers. Prices may be held down some by the
luxury-rental glut, but that won't last, says Heiberger: “Then
the area will be occupied, and it will be like any other Manhattan
neighborhood.” In the long term, the Time Warner Center plus
the proposed stadium complex on the far west sideif it's builtshould
boost values across the board.
Profile from the March
10, 2003 cover story of New York Magazine
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| APARTMENT
PRICES |
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TO BUY
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2001
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2003
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| Studio/1BR |
$400K-$450K |
$270K-$600K |
| 2BR |
$500K-$600K |
$600K-$2M |
| Family
Apt. |
$750K-$1M |
$900K-$4M |
| Townhouse |
$1.8M-$3.5M |
$1.6M-$5M |
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TO RENT
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2001
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2003
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| Studio/1BR |
$2,000-$2,500 |
$1,400-$2,700 |
| 2BR |
$2,900-$3,200 |
$2,500-$4,500 |
| Family
Apt. |
$3,200-$3,500 |
$2,500-$5,000 |
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NEIGHBORHOOD
BROKERS
William
B. May
Fenwick-Keats
MANAGEMENT CO./PROPERTIES
Durst
Gotham
Organization
BEST CITYWIDE BROKERS
Brown
Harris Stevens
Douglas Elliman
Corcoran
Halstead
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COMPARE
THIS NEIGHBORHOOD...
How good are the schools? How many violent crimes have
taken place lately? How many pothole complaints have been
filed? The city of New York has put the data online. Pour
over stats and pit one neighborhood against another. Just
fill out your address in the "My Neighborhood"
box and select the topic of interest schools, transportation,
public safety, and more.
NYC.gov
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RELATED
FEATURES
NYC
Olympics: 2012 (The plan to build a stadium on the west side)
(October 28, 2002)
Best
of New York: Midtown West
(March 25, 2002)
Real
Estate 2001: Hell's Kitchen
(March 12, 2001)
THE SCENE
Dining
Blue Fin:
The space is stunning, the staff is ingratiating, and the clientele
mirrors Times Square’s weirdly inspired marriage of buffed-up business
and soft-scrubbed entertainment. Also named Best
Lunch To Impress of 2003 and Best
Pre- and Post-Theater Bar.
1567 Broadway, at 47th St.; 212-918-1400
DB Bistro
Moderne: Daniel Boulud's cool Parisian bistro was named
Best Post-Theater
Dining of 2002.
55 W. 44th St., between Fifth and Sixth Aves.; 212-391-2400
44 & X
Hell's Kitchen: John Tesar's inspired new American cooking
packs this handsome room with Hell's Kitchen locals and clued-in theatergoers.
622 Tenth Ave., at 44th St.; 212-977-1170
Hell's Kitchen: This Ninth Avenue Mexican
fusion is perpetually packed.
679 Ninth Ave., at 39th St.; 212-977-1588
HK:
A Hell's Kitchen newcomer that's part quasi-industrial coffee shop,
part gleaming bar and lounge.
523 Ninth Ave., at 39th St.; 212-947-4208
Marseille:
Hell's Kitchen kitchen imbues the Film Center Building with a Casablanca-era
French Moroccan feel.
630 Ninth Ave., at 44th St.; 212-333-3410
Molyvos:
The sprawling midtown taverna is a rustic showcase for chef Jim Botsacos's
serious Mediterranean menu.
871 Seventh Ave., between 55th and 56th Sts.; 212-582-7500 or molyvos.com
Per Se:
A gleaming, lavishly equipped kitchen lures Thomas Keller out of his
bucolic Yountville existence and into the Time Warner Center.
10 Columbus Circle, at 60th St.; 212-823-9335 or frenchlaundry.com/perse.htm
Town:
Geoffrey Zakarian takes the chic-hotel-restaurant mania to new levels
of culinary sophistication. Also named Best
New Restaurant of 2002.
Chambers Hotel, 15 W. 56th St., between Fifth and Sixth Aves.;
212-582-4445 or townnyc.com
More Hell's Kitchen
Restaurants
More Midtown West Restaurants
Drinking
Barrage:
A great (gay) place to go and meet people.
401 W. 47th St., between Ninth and Tenth Aves.; 212-586-9390
Hudson Library
Bar: Named NYC's Best
Bad-Weather Bar.
356 W. 58th St., between Eighth and Ninth Aves.; 212-554-6317
Kemia Bar:
An abandoned bank transformed into a quirky Moroccan speakeasy.
630 Ninth Ave., entrance on 44th St.; 212-582-3200 or kemiabar.com
Rudy's:
Old-school bar that serves the hip and the square of all ages.
627 Ninth Ave., between 44th and 45th Sts.; 212-974-9169 or rudysbarandgrill.com
Russian Vodka
Room: Join the largely Russian
crowd and get tanked on homemade, flavored vodka shots.
265 W. 52nd St., between Broadway and Eighth Ave.; 212-307-5835
or rvrclub.com
Siberia:
Tracy Westmoreland has painstakingly re-created the dive bar's skanky-chic
ambiencedown to the broken toilet hanging from the ceiling.
Also named Best
Dive Bar for Meeting a Celebrity.
356 W. 40th St., at Ninth Ave.; 212-333-4141 or siberiany.com
Single Room
Occupancy : There's no sign outside this basement hideaway,
just a glowing green sconce and the faintest throb of deep-house music.
Also named Best
Speakeasy in Midtown.
360 W. 53rd St., between Eighth and Ninth Aves.; 212-765-6299
Stone Rose:
The latest lounge in Rande Gerber's nightlife empire is just outside
Hell's Kitchen's northern edge.
10 Columbus Circle, at 60th St.; 212-823-9769
Trousdale: A sophisticated new boutique
lounge in the Amsterdam Court hotel.
226 W. 50th St., between Broadway and Eighth Ave., 212-262-4070
More Hell's Kitchen
Bars
More Midtown West Bars
Shopping
LYD: This cute Hell's Kitchen women's
boutique carries young, contemporary lines from New York, LA, and
London.
505 W. 44th St., near Ninth Avenue; 212-246-8041 or lydnyc.com
Delphinium Home: Find quirky items for
the kitchen, bath, and home at this design-minded Hell's Kitchen gift
shop.
653 Ninth Ave., between 44th and 45th Sts.; 212-333-3213 or delphiniumhome.com
Hells Kitchen Boutiques
Midtown West Boutiques
Midtwon West Department Stores
Hell's Kitchen Stores
Midtwon West Stores
RECOMMENDED SITES
Hell's
Kitchen Online: A website with a focus on preserving Hell's
Kitchen and opposing the proposed Westside stadium. Includes an interesting
block-by-block
gallery of neighborhood photos. |
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