2. Manhattan Valley

Because it’s suburbia with subways.

• • 
    
  By S.Jhoanna Robledo 
• Published Apr 3, 2011

(Photo: Susan Wides for New York Magazine)

The Upper West Side’s stepchild is so perpetually overlooked that many don’t even know where it is. (For the record, it runs from Broadway to Central Park, and from 96th Street to 110th Street.) But the nabe is slowly sloughing off its anonymity, in part thanks to the five glassy buildings that comprise Columbus Square. The still-expanding behemoth is responsible for 710 rentals, two schools, and over 500,000 square feet of retail space, some occupied by stores that are, for better or worse, suburban-mall in flavor. Its construction was a battle royale, with many locals fearing a loss of authenticity and affordability—and some locals have yet to embrace the transformation (the new Whole Foods can’t have helped). But the metamorphosis continues apace, inching north along Amsterdam Avenue, which, in Buca Brick Oven Pizza and the upcoming American bistro The Neighborhood, will have more buzzy restaurants than these parts have seen in years—if ever.

Courtesy of nymag

1. The Higher Line

20th to 30th Streets, Tenth to Eleventh Avenues

Because the High Line is about to double in size.

• 
  By S.Jhoanna Robledo 
• Published Apr 3, 2011

Map by Remie Geoffroi

Amid fanfare and friction, they built the High Line, and yes, people did come. Now developers, restaurateurs, and shopkeepers are hoping to work the same mojo with the elevated park’s imminent second section, stretching from West 20th Street to West 30th Street. “The first phase debunked the criticism that it wouldn’t be safe, that it wouldn’t be used,” says Vishaan Chakrabarti of Columbia University, a former director of city planning. As evident from the following list of recently risen shops, hotels, nightclubs, galleries, condominiums, and rental buildings, there’s no shortage of interest in High Line 2.0.

1. 500 West 23rd Street
no phone yet
Developer Sam Zell has taken the reins from Shaya Boymelgreen at this unfinished glass-and-concrete-clad rental, where all units come with rooftop-garden access.

2. Amnesia NYC
609 W. 29th St.; 212-643-6464 
A 7,000-square-foot Vegas-like club featuring celebrity D.J.’s, fire performers, and aerialists.

(Photo: Martin Edwards/Courtesy of 'wichcraft)

3. ’wichcraft
601 W. 26th St.; 212-780-0577
Expecting a boom in the park-picnic trade, Tom Colicchio expands his sandwich empire.

4. 200 Eleventh Avenue
212-727-6164 
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are reportedly residents of Annabelle Selldorf’s building, which includes a “sky garage” that whisks residents’ cars right up to their front door.

(Photo: Courtesy of HL23)

5. HL23
515 W. 23rd St.; 212-371-3680
Neil Denari’s ecofriendly structure cantilevers over the High Line and is set to open this summer. Eight apartments are still available, including a $12 million, 3,600-square-foot penthouse.

6. Cumi’s Baby Boutique
317 Tenth Ave.; 646-633-5282 
Handmade clothing, mostly made with silk and linen, for the toddler set.

7. Avenues: The World School
259 Tenth Ave.; 212-935-5000
The for-profit school, slated to open for the 2012–13 school year, will be run by onetime Yale University president Benno Schmidt and former Phillips Exeter principal Tyler Tingley.

(Photo: Stephanie Cohn/Courtesy of Love Gelato Company)

8. Love Gelato 
642 W. 28th St.; 212-929-2870
The West Village purveyor of artisanal desserts will soon open a retail counter in Chelsea’s Terminal Warehouse, which also houses galleries and shops.

9. 518 West 27th Street
212-216-0000 
The 56-room Hôtel Americano will be the first New York property run by the stylish Mexico City hotelier Grupo Habita.

10. Son Cubano
544 W. 27th St.; 212-366-1640 
The meatpacking district’s Havana-themed small-plates joint relocates here this spring.

11. +aRt
537 W. 27th St.; 212-736-4492 (rentals) and 540 W. 28th St.; 212-486-2540 (condos) 
A nearly finished mix of high-end rentals and condominiums, with space for an art gallery on the ground floor.

12. Avalon West Chelsea
517 W. 28th St.; 212-309-1612 
AvalonBay’s much-discussed, $275 million project is almost under way. Plans include one lobby, two towers, and 691 apartments.

(Photo: Courtesy of Ohm)

13. Ohm 
312 Eleventh Ave.; 212-564-2288
The 360-unit, 37-story rental tower is now 100 percent leased. Residents get exclusive access to in-building concerts hosted by the Knitting Factory.

Courtesy of nymag

The Next Big Neighborhoods?

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  Today’s Gowanus Is Tomorrow’s Tribeca

  Twenty under-the-radar microneighborhoods that may just be the Next Big Thing.

  • By S.Jhoanna Robledo 
  • Published Apr 3, 2011

  In a city that is, to quote the late, great Alistair Cooke, “the biggest collection of villages in the world,” what makes a village take off? What turns a non-neighborhood or a fledgling neighborhood or a forgotten, forlorn neighborhood into a Name Brand neighborhood? Sometimes, it takes just one big arrival—an overhauled cultural space (see:Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria), a signature building (MiMA on Far West 42nd Street), or a Zeitgeist-seizing restaurant (Roberta’s in Bushwick)—to shake a neighborhood from a stupor. Sometimes, as with the High Line, the city steps in, providing much-needed capital to enliven an area’s crumbling infrastructure. Other times, as with the damn-the-Superfund darlings Gowanusand Greenpoint, the shift comes from basic free-market forces: outpriced renters seeking more space for less rent; shopkeepers needing bigger footprints; a demand for affordable places to shake it on a Saturday night. And it’s also true that, sometimes, sleepers just suddenly wake up. (Good morning, Flushing!) Below you’ll find twenty pockets around the city pulsing with the first stirrings, anyway, of rebirth. Think of them as villages in the making.

  
  

  The Next Big Neighborhood:

  • 1. The Higher Line Because the High Line Is About to Double in Size
  • 2. Manhattan Valley Because It’s Suburbia With Subways
  • 3. Far West 42nd Because Despite Its Gawky Name, MiMA Is One Stunning Building
  • 4. Marcus Garvey Park Because It’s Harlem’s Answer to Madison Square Park
  • 5. Flushingstone Because Growthwise, It’s Practically Shenzhen
  • 6. Superfund South (a.k.a. Gowanus) Because a Toxic Canal Is No Match for a Burgeoning Nightlife District
  • 7. Superfund North (a.k.a., Southeast Greenpoint) Because a Toxic Underground Blob Is No Match for a Big, Underutilized Park
  • 8. - 11. Four Micro-Microneighborhoods Because Look at All These New Storefronts
  • 12. Murray Bay Because It Just Awoke From a 50-Year Real-Estate Nap
  • 13. Hell's Roofdeck Because It’s a No-Man’s-Land No Longer
  • 14. South Astoria Because It’s the Bowery in 2007
  • 15. Fort Fulton Because Brooklyn Is About to Get Its Own Union Square
  • 16. Robertasville (a.k.a. Bushwick) Because You Can Now Reap What the Locavore Pizzaioli Sowed
  • 17. Garment West Because It’s Crane Crazy
  • 18. Lower East FiDi Because That Frank Gehry Building Is Having a Halo Effect
  • 19. Pro-Crown Heights Because It’s Park Slope in 1991
  • 20. Hamilton Heights Because Soon, It’ll Be Walking Distance From Columbia

  
  

  
  

  Courtesy of NYMAG - Read full article