For the past three years, as Second Ave. Subway construction has slogged toward an indeterminate launch date, we’ve heard a lot about how the constant noise, dirt and debris has had a negative impact on the quality of life along Second Ave. Business is down by 30 percent in some locations, and residents must confront constant construction right outside their windows at all hours of the day. Not everyone on the East Side, though, is suffering from Second Ave. pain.
One big block to the east, First Ave. merchants and restauranteurs are enjoying a renaissance, as Laura Kusisto writes in The Wall Street Journal today. Long playing second fiddle to Second Ave., First Ave. is enjoying a boom time right now as businesses seek out East Side locales that aren’t under construction. Rents, while still cheaper than Second Ave., are on the rise, and real estate experts expect the trend to continue.
Ultimately, First Ave. stands to benefit greatly from the Second Ave. subway. As Dean Valentino, a real estate broker, said to The Journal, “Once that subway is in there, then First Avenue is in great shape because then you’re only a block away.” It will no longer be a long three-block trek to the nearest subway line, and at that point, in 2016 or 2017 or 2018, the avenues east of Second that haven’t suffered from construction will truly see an increase in accessibility, desirability and, of course, rent.
8 comments
It will be interesting to see what business owners and residents below 72nd Street will have to say about construction for Phase 2.
Will it ever really happen, or will SAS just be for the Upper East Side and East Harlem?
It will depend on what the results are of real estate prices/office/apartment/store rental rates and store sales along Second Avenue between 72nd and 96th streets after the line opens.
Building owners who see valuations go up (assuming they go up) and the ability to charge higher rents increase north of 63rd Street will probably become boosters. Store owners who look at the years of disruptions that could put them out of business before the line is completed will likely be less enthusiastic, while residents will have to gauge the trade off between higher rents or condo purchase costs vs. the greater convenience of a nearby subway line to make their decisions.
As history has shown, there’s no way valuations do not go up by quite a bit after the subway opens.
Ben, spot on. The temporary pain along 2nd will be more than off-set by the long-term property value appreciation.
Case in point: Queens Boulevard.
Isn’t phase 2 supposed to be 96th St. to 125th St.?
And if so, I would hope that part would go more quickly and
less painfully since a considerable amount of tunnels were
already constructed in the 1970’s.
This is purely anecdotal, but the people I know who live east of Second Avenue tend to own cars, those who live west of Second Avenue don’t. Though its not acknowledged as such, Second Avenue seems to be a big divider, though the traffic probably also has something to do with that (its probably the hardest big avenue in Manhattan for pedestrians to get across). The subway will change that. On the other hand, lots of people moving to New York for the first time have taken advantage of the relatively cheap rents east of Second Avenue, rents that are cheap because transportation to the rest of the city is so crappy.
As a resident of First Ave, I can confirm the author’s point. Higher end places are opening on first, particularly in the 70s and 80s. It’s a shame that this has to come at the expense of Second Avenue, but I think it will be a permanent change as more people choose to live east of 2nd when the subway (finally) opens.