Hell’s Kitchen real estate sizzles

UPDATED, Aug. 23, 10:41 a.m.: Once-maligned Hell’s Kitchen’s residential real estate scene is heating up amid the arrival of Hudson Yards, at the southern tip, and the expansion of the 7 train.

Luxury residences — Mercedes House at 555 West 53rd Street, Atelier II at 635 West 42nd Street and MiMA at 450 West 42nd Street — have recently arrived in Hell’s Kitchen, and more are on their way, the Wall Street Journal said. And part of the reason is the area’s historically gay population, the paper claimed.

“Men feel safer moving into rough-and-ready neighborhoods and, because gay men are less likely to have children than lesbians, they tend to invest more in rapid property development,” Gary Gates, a demographer at the University of California at Los Angeles, told the Journal. “We saw it with Chelsea, and the West Village before that.”

Neighborhood comparisons abound.

“It’s almost like the Lower East Side 10 or 15 years ago, that rugged mix,” said Sam DeFranceschi, a NestSeekers associate broker who is selling a building in the area, where owners recently upped the ask by $1.3 million because of the area’s rising prospects.

The district has also gained new gay bars such as cowboy-themed Flaming Saddles and the nightclub XL, while the gay-friendly crowd in Chelsea has waned in the past few years. [WSJ] – Mark Maurer