Sophie Hoeller The battle over gentrification in the East Village can become heated at the flick of an offhand comment about an apartment rental. But today came a bit of news that is all but certain to fuel the debate even further: the East Village made the top 25 of the annual Forbes list of America’s richest ZIP codes.
The ZIP code 10003 – an oddly shaped sliver of the Village that is roughly bordered by First Avenue to the east, East Houston Street to the south, 20th Street to the north and Washington Square Park to the west – was designated No. 22 on the list based on the average home price here of more than $2.8 million.
The area’s inclusion in the upper stratosphere of the Forbes list was reported today by The Daily News.
No. 9 on the Forbes list was SoHo (10012).
What does this say about the East Village today – and what might it portend for the future? Feel free to put your thoughts here.
Meanwhile, if you want to explore more, and help us figure out the housing trends in the neighborhood, The New York Times offers these pages devoted to real estate in the East Village:
Meredith Hoffman Jane Kwett gazes down at 12th Street from her new home, Allen Ginsberg’s apartment.Jane Kwett, a marketer for Yelp who prefers Kerouac to Ginsberg, is the new tenant in Allen Ginsberg’s old apartment.
After the landlord raised the rent in her West Village residence, she found the Ginsberg apartment online and thought it looked like a great deal for $1,700 a month. She moved into the apartment at 437 E. 12th Street, last Thursday. Now Ms. Kwett, 26, often writes by the very window where Ginsberg sat, but the books he wrote are missing from her shelf. She said her favorite part of the apartment is the light that comes in through that window, which is “very iconic Ginsberg.” Calling the space “my apartment,” she admitted she thinks less about Ginsberg now than when she first moved in a week ago.
“I do think it’s funny that people are so interested in the apartment, but I can understand, I mean it’s the East Village. It’s the ultimate hipster apartment and I’m not at all a hipster. Though I don’t know if there are too many ‘angelheaded’ hipsters in the neighborhood anymore,” said Ms. Kwett, quoting Ginsberg’s “Howl.”
With her light blonde hair and relaxed California demeanor, Ms. Kwett could hardly strike anyone as a hipster.
Read more…
