Beekman and Sutton, exclusive enclaves, brush up against bustling Midtown

Pockets of elegance and calm amid bustling commercial areas and never the twain shall meet.

That is the traditional notion of Midtown East upscale enclaves like Sutton Place and Beekman Place east of First Avenue, separate from hectic Midtown to the west.

But several new projects have recently brought a little more bustle and other changes to the quiet oasis of tranquility near the East River.

Beekman Place, one of the most sought after enclaves in the city, runs from 49th to 51st Streets, consisting of two blocks of ivy-covered town homes and co-op buildings.

The prestigious neighborhood got its name from the Beekman family, which built its mansion, Mount Pleasant, there in 1764. Townhouses went up in the 1800s. When the sumptuous apartment house at 1 Beekman Place was built in 1929, the cachet of the little street was established.

But there have been changes afoot recently. The tony area saw its first condominium in 1999, when developer Enrico Minoli converted a seven-story townhouse at 25-27 Beekman Place.

Earlier this year, two other condos, the Grand Beekman, a stylish 32-story tower, and the Beekman Regent, a converted schoolhouse, opened at 51st Street and First Avenue, just outside the neighborhood.

But some brokers say residents of Beekman Place, who have long campaigned to keep their special neighborhood unchanged, are welcoming the new developments on their perimeter. The Beekman Regent replaced a vacant shelter that had been an eyesore, and the two new projects are helping to generate new interest in the out-of-the-way neighborhood.

“It’s bringing in more people who didn’t know about the area,” said Beatrice Ducrot, a vice president at Stribling & Associates. “There haven’t been any complaints, and people are excited,” she said.

As far as current Beekman Place residents go, Ducrot said once people move into the area, they tend to stay.

“Beekman Place is a little pocket onto itself. It has addicts,” she said. “You just move from one house to another. I’ve relocated a lot of people there.”

Gale Rundquist, a vice president in Douglas Elliman’s East Side office, notes that just because the area is somewhat out-of-the-way doesn’t mean it’s isolated in terms of services.

“The area east of 2nd Avenue is very highly serviced,” she said. “Compare it to living on parts of Park Avenue, where you have to go over to 3rd Avenue to go to a grocery store.”

Sutton Place, the other tony neighborhood in the Midtown East area, has also seen changes. The tidy enclave that runs from 53rd to 59th Streets between First Avenue and the East River has historically been home to luminaries of all kinds, with current residents including Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations, the movie star Sigourney Weaver and the architect I. M. Pei.

Some brokers say that more young people are moving into the traditionally empty-nester area, including singles and some families.

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“Sutton Place used to be pretty dowdy,” said Ducrot. “Now, there are more single people. And families are only now sort of starting to move in.”

Part of the reason young families are moving in despite the drawbacks of being five blocks from the nearest subway are prices that are lower than the Upper East Side.

“You can still get very good deals there,” said Ducrot. Sutton Place is also a draw for doctors who can easily get to hospitals on Manhattan’s East Side and in the Bronx via the nearby F.D.R. Drive.

The neighborhood was named for Effingham B. Sutton, a shipping tycoon, who bought a tract there in the late 1870’s. Sutton Place was relatively industrial at first, but around the time of the opening of the Queensboro Bridge in 1909, prominent families including the Vanderbilts and Morgans started to move in, establishing the neighborhood’s cachet.

Another Midtown East neighborhood, Turtle Bay, which Ducrot calls “a little less selective” has also seen changes in recent years, though less welcome than changes in Beekman or Sutton Place.

The neighborhood, which extends from 43rd to 53rd Streets, and eastward from Lexington Avenue to the East River, is home to diplomats, doctors and business people who want to be close to their Midtown offices. Turtle Bay Gardens, at 49th Street, was born in the 1920s when the area was popular with the literati, and was the residence of Katharine Hepburn and still home to Stephen Sondheim.

“Overall, the area is a mix,” said Ducrot.

“It’s a lot of rentals people who are relocated. It’s got diplomats, but also people who were born and raised there and lived there their whole lives.”

Two of the most prestigious addresses in the area are 860 and 870 United Nations Plaza, on 49th Street. 100 United Nations Plaza, where Walter Cronkite lives, is also high on the list.

The biggest development in the area in recent years has been the Trump World Tower, a 72-story, 360-unit condominium tower that is the tallest residential building in the world.

The community fought the building’s development, and some brokers said there is still some ill will toward the Trump complex. Residents of 100 U.N. Plaza feel the building took away their views.

Rundquist said the mammoth tower has “taken away from the little stores” in the area.

With the completion of the Trump World Tower, some brokers said it is unlikely there will be any more projects of that size going up anytime soon in the area because there aren’t any large parcels for development. But Ducrot said she has heard that some assembling of properties on 2nd Avenue in the 50s might be taking place.

As far as the rest of Midtown East, Ducrot characterizes the neighborhood that runs down 2nd Avenue in the 50s, and is home many bars and nightspots, as “undiscovered.”

“Most people think of it as a commercial area. But it’s fun. It’s a neighborhood that’s still undiscovered in my opinion,” she said, noting it is a natural draw for young people.

West of the area, residential units are scarce in the commercial heart of Midtown.

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