High sales prices move south down the Bowery

The downtrodden strip of Bowery between Houston and Canal streets is finally beginning to flourish, the New York Post reported. While the area north of Houston Street has been gentrifying for years, the Bowery was still largely known for its kitchen-supply and lighting stores below Houston Street. Thanks to the arrival of a handful of new condominiums, the New Museum and flashy retail stores, and the street’s proximity to bordering neighborhoods including Nolita, the East Village, the Lower East Side and Chinatown that is beginning to change.

As a result, the scarce available real estate in the area is becoming a hot commodity, the Post said.

For example, when VE Equities’ launched the website for its forthcoming condo at 250 Bowery, which won’t be topped off for six weeks, it was overrun with traffic and crashed within 24 hours. At 195 Bowery, listing booker Tony Sargent of Core got two offers last week for a two-bedroom unit listed for $1,515 per square foot. And developer Shaky Cohen told the Post he was so pleased with the sales prices at his 263 Bowery that he has plans to develop another Karl Fischer-designed building at 255 Bowery.

Meanwhile, brokers say that to make room for even more new development the dingy kitchen and lighting stores are destined for Brooklyn Queens. [Post]