Second Avenue subway nears — and UES property values soar

Seven years and a score of property owner headaches later, the new Second Avenue subway line is nearing completion — and property values are finally on the rise.

A four-story, 50-foot-wide building at 1804-06 Second Avenue and 93rd Street that sold for $5.8 million two years ago is now predicted to nab nearly triple that price. Several new construction projects have recently been unveiled, And Condominium Rates Along The Avenue jumped in 2013 for the first time in four years.

The uptick comes at the tail end a seven-year slog through smoky construction equipment, piles of debris and noisy explosions that have plagued merchants and landlords, an increasing number of which are expected to put their properties on the market as the subway’s projected December 2016 completion date draws closer.

“People who haven’t wanted to sell their sites might bring them to the market now,” Andrew Gerringer of the Marketing Directors told Crain’s.

Manhattan-based DDG purchased an East 88th Street and Third Avenue site in October, where it is expected to construct high-end condominiums, and Florida-based Inverlad has kicked off construction of a 130-foot building near the line’s terminus at East 61st Street. Extell Development is also getting in othe action, filing permits to tear down a string of Buildings Along Third Avenue between 94th and 95th streets purchased ten years ago, according to Crain’s. [Crain’s] — Julie Strickland