Why New York s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders FT
7/15/2016
Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
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Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders Home to Columbia University and other colleges, the area is attracting developers seeking new places to colonise
Low Memorial Library at Columbia University in Morningside Heights © Getty JULY 15, 2016 6:04 AM
by: Troy McMullen
New York City is not often thought of as a university town. Yet a stroll through Morningside Heights, an area of upper Manhattan that is home to Columbia University, Barnard College and several other smaller universities, might change that perception. Among the brownstones and classic prewar buildings, campus life spills on to the streets, providing a youthful energy that rivals quintessential college towns such as Berkeley in California and Austin in Texas. The neighbourhood, which stretches along the west side of Manhattan between 110th and 125th streets, has mostly escaped New York’s latest building boom. Yet in the past year https://next.ft.com/content/85e4333c438c11e69b660712b3873ae1
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Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
there have been a number of developments in Morningside Heights as builders seek new places to colonise and younger buyers find themselves priced out of more established and expensive areas. “Colleges and universities anchor a town or district with a steady flow of academics, students and other staff that need offcampus housing,” says Stuart Siegel, chief executive of Engel & Völkers New York City. “Columbia is no different and [previously] sceptical developers are now realising it is a fertile area [in which] to build.” Baby boomers, retirees and international buyers, mostly from Asia, are also drawn to the neighbourhood, says Mara Flash Blum, a broker with Sotheby’s International Realty. “They’re attracted to the youth and culture but also realise the financial benefits of owning property in an area with appreciating real estate prices.” Flanked by Morningside Park and Riverside Park — large public spaces designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted — Morningside Heights is part of the Upper West Side, a densely populated, mostly residential district that includes Central Park, Columbus Circle and the Lincoln Center. The area around Columbia University is sprinkled with vintage bookshops and hip restaurants. It also encompasses prominent landmarks such as the General Grant National Memorial (Grant’s Tomb) — the largest mausoleum in the US — where President Ulysses S Grant and his wife Julia are interred. The university owns much of the local real estate and recently expanded into Manhattanville, a neighbourhood just north of Morningside Heights, purchasing a 17acre site for a new campus.
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Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
Four-bedroom apartment on Riverside Drive, $7.4m
Although house prices in Manhattan have seen sharp increases in recent years, led by an influx of glossy new condominiums, increases in Morningside Heights have been modest by comparison. The median price of a home in the district reached $1.14m in June 2016, according to the real estate website Trulia. That compares with $1.27m for the Upper West Side as a whole and $1.19m for the five boroughs that make up New York City. At Circa Central Park, an 11storey condominium under construction near Columbia, 38 units are on sale ranging in price from $1m to $10.5m. The building, designed by FXFOWLE Architects and due to be completed next year, will also include 10 lowcost units, although prices for the homes are not yet available. Renovated turnofthecentury townhouses and apartment buildings are also popular with wealthy buyers, says Daniel Douglas, a broker with the Corcoran Group and a Princeton educated architectural historian. He says that this is especially true for the late 19th and early 20thcentury apartment buildings on Riverside Drive, the boulevard that runs up the west side of Manhattan. Stribling Private Brokerage is marketing a fourbedroom apartment on Riverside Drive for $7.4m. Between West 112th and 113th, the building was designed in 1909 by Schwartz & Gross, a prominent Manhattan architectural firm. The 3,600 sq ft property has views of the Hudson river and a formal dining room with high ceilings and walnut panels. “There’s a rich architectural history to the housing stock in Morningside Heights,” says https://next.ft.com/content/85e4333c438c11e69b660712b3873ae1
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Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
Douglas. “Many of the buildings are still adorned with the same prewar detailing that was an integral part of their original design — and that history appeals to buyers.”
Buying guide ● Morningside Heights is bordered by Manhattanville and Harlem to the north and Manhattan Valley to the south ● Columbia University has a total enrolment of about 30,000 ● The crime rate in the 26th Precinct, which includes Morningside Heights, fell 11 per cent year on year in March
What you can buy for … $500,000 A studio apartment near Riverside Park $1m A twobedroom home in a renovated prewar building $3m A threebedroom home in a new condominium with park views More listings at propertylistings.ft.com (http://propertylistings.ft.com/) Main photograph: Getty Images/Axiom RM Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others. © The Financial Times Ltd.
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Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
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International Property
Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders Home to Columbia University and other colleges, the area is attracting developers seeking new places to colonise
Low Memorial Library at Columbia University in Morningside Heights © Getty JULY 15, 2016 6:04 AM
by: Troy McMullen
New York City is not often thought of as a university town. Yet a stroll through Morningside Heights, an area of upper Manhattan that is home to Columbia University, Barnard College and several other smaller universities, might change that perception. Among the brownstones and classic prewar buildings, campus life spills on to the streets, providing a youthful energy that rivals quintessential college towns such as Berkeley in California and Austin in Texas. The neighbourhood, which stretches along the west side of Manhattan between 110th and 125th streets, has mostly escaped New York’s latest building boom. Yet in the past year https://next.ft.com/content/85e4333c438c11e69b660712b3873ae1
1/6
7/15/2016
Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
there have been a number of developments in Morningside Heights as builders seek new places to colonise and younger buyers find themselves priced out of more established and expensive areas. “Colleges and universities anchor a town or district with a steady flow of academics, students and other staff that need offcampus housing,” says Stuart Siegel, chief executive of Engel & Völkers New York City. “Columbia is no different and [previously] sceptical developers are now realising it is a fertile area [in which] to build.” Baby boomers, retirees and international buyers, mostly from Asia, are also drawn to the neighbourhood, says Mara Flash Blum, a broker with Sotheby’s International Realty. “They’re attracted to the youth and culture but also realise the financial benefits of owning property in an area with appreciating real estate prices.” Flanked by Morningside Park and Riverside Park — large public spaces designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted — Morningside Heights is part of the Upper West Side, a densely populated, mostly residential district that includes Central Park, Columbus Circle and the Lincoln Center. The area around Columbia University is sprinkled with vintage bookshops and hip restaurants. It also encompasses prominent landmarks such as the General Grant National Memorial (Grant’s Tomb) — the largest mausoleum in the US — where President Ulysses S Grant and his wife Julia are interred. The university owns much of the local real estate and recently expanded into Manhattanville, a neighbourhood just north of Morningside Heights, purchasing a 17acre site for a new campus.
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7/15/2016
Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
Four-bedroom apartment on Riverside Drive, $7.4m
Although house prices in Manhattan have seen sharp increases in recent years, led by an influx of glossy new condominiums, increases in Morningside Heights have been modest by comparison. The median price of a home in the district reached $1.14m in June 2016, according to the real estate website Trulia. That compares with $1.27m for the Upper West Side as a whole and $1.19m for the five boroughs that make up New York City. At Circa Central Park, an 11storey condominium under construction near Columbia, 38 units are on sale ranging in price from $1m to $10.5m. The building, designed by FXFOWLE Architects and due to be completed next year, will also include 10 lowcost units, although prices for the homes are not yet available. Renovated turnofthecentury townhouses and apartment buildings are also popular with wealthy buyers, says Daniel Douglas, a broker with the Corcoran Group and a Princeton educated architectural historian. He says that this is especially true for the late 19th and early 20thcentury apartment buildings on Riverside Drive, the boulevard that runs up the west side of Manhattan. Stribling Private Brokerage is marketing a fourbedroom apartment on Riverside Drive for $7.4m. Between West 112th and 113th, the building was designed in 1909 by Schwartz & Gross, a prominent Manhattan architectural firm. The 3,600 sq ft property has views of the Hudson river and a formal dining room with high ceilings and walnut panels. “There’s a rich architectural history to the housing stock in Morningside Heights,” says https://next.ft.com/content/85e4333c438c11e69b660712b3873ae1
3/6
7/15/2016
Why New York’s Morningside Heights is attracting housebuilders — FT.com
Douglas. “Many of the buildings are still adorned with the same prewar detailing that was an integral part of their original design — and that history appeals to buyers.”
Buying guide ● Morningside Heights is bordered by Manhattanville and Harlem to the north and Manhattan Valley to the south ● Columbia University has a total enrolment of about 30,000 ● The crime rate in the 26th Precinct, which includes Morningside Heights, fell 11 per cent year on year in March
What you can buy for … $500,000 A studio apartment near Riverside Park $1m A twobedroom home in a renovated prewar building $3m A threebedroom home in a new condominium with park views More listings at propertylistings.ft.com (http://propertylistings.ft.com/) Main photograph: Getty Images/Axiom RM Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others. © The Financial Times Ltd.
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Lexicon
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More from the FT Group Agenda
ExecSense
Analyse Africa
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Board IQ
Financial Advisor IQ
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FT Live
FT Property Listings
Ignites
FT Advisor
Ignites Asia
Fund Fire
Ignites Europe
Global Risk Regulator
Investors Chronicle
How to Spend It
Mandate Wire
New York Insitute of Finance
The Banker
Non Executive Directors Club
The Banker Database
Pensions Expert
This is Africa
Professional Wealth Management 125 Club
Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD . FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd. The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
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