Brooklyn exodus knocks rents in less coveted Manhattan nabes

From left: 550 West 45th Street and 2 Northside Piers
From left: 550 West 45th Street and 2 Northside Piers

As large, glistening developments increasingly spring up along the East River and elsewhere in the outer boroughs, the once surefire draw of a Manhattan address may no longer be enough to reel in renters, a new report suggests. 

“These newer industry participants prefer the older, gentrified areas [of the outer boroughs] to the sleek canyon denseness of Manhattan,” said marketing guru Nancy Packes, who prepared the report with StreetEasy and On-site.com.

The shift may be beginning to have an impact on Manhattan rents, according to the report. While areas of the Upper East Side, Midtown, Murray Hill and Kips Bay have seen substantial growth in rents on studio, one and two-bedroom apartments in the last year, one and two-bedroom doorman buildings in these so-called value neighborhoods have fallen or remained flat.

Below 96th Street in Manhattan, rents in doorman buildings rose $4,196 per month, but in Midtown average rents fell 6.2 percent to $4,492 and east of Lexington Avenue they tumbled 10.9 percent to $3,713 in the last year. West of Eighth Avenue they held steady at $3,862 per month.

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Melissa Pianko, executive vice president of development at the Gotham Organization, told the Wall Street Journal that the report is little reason to worry because “Manhattan is never over.”

“The great thing about New York is that it is not a one-size fits all proposition,” she said.

Even so, she added: “Our next project is in Brooklyn.” [WSJ]Julie Strickland