Second Avenue Subway construction offers opportunity for bargain apartment hunters

While apartment owners and longtime residents of Second Avenue on the Upper East Side constantly voice complaints and anger over the construction work on the forthcoming subway, for young renters it provides a rare opportunity for a bargain apartment in Manhattan.

According to data from appraisal firm Miller Samuel cited by the New York Times, rents have fallen along Second Avenue in the last year despite rising throughout the rest of the Upper East Side.

Between East 64th and East 96th streets west of Third Avenue the median rent rose 3.2 percent from 2010 to 2011, and east of First Avenue the median rent increased 2 percent during that period. But rents between that area fell 1.7 percent.

In addition to the noise, the area is mired by dust, debris and a pair of five-story trailers, spanning almost an entire block near 70th Street, called muck houses where rock from the tunnel is collected and hauled away.

“This is an opportunity, especially for people who maybe don’t have a family yet and aren’t in the apartment that much,” said Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller. “If you work a little late, then go out to the bar and bend an elbow. When you come home, you might not hear anything.” [NYT]