7 up-and-coming NYC neighborhoods for renters

Young New Yorkers have simple needs: love, a decent job and an affordable apartment to wake up in without experiencing a total loss of self respect.

Every month more people seem to be competing for more costly housing, pushing the search to neighborhoods you never knew existed or previously wouldn’t consider.

Upon our request, NeighborhoodX, a real estate analytics startup, came up with seven “emerging neighborhoods,” that are in various stages of change.

“Once you get a critical mass of people in an area, that begins to attract amenities and then it becomes less a neighborhood of necessity and more a neighborhood of choice,” said NeighborhoodX’s co-founder Constantine Valhouli.

These new neighborhoods ­­— though hardly new to families who’ve lived there for generations ­– can still be found in Manhattan, but those in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx often have a shorter subway ride to midtown or downtown, said Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm.

And since two roommates can live cheaper than one, we are looking at two-bedroom apartment rents.
Moving from most affordable to more expensive:

The Grand Concourse is the aptly named New York City version of Paris’ Champs-Élysées. Planned at the end of the 19^th century, the Concourse was soon lined with Art Deco and Art Moderne architecture. The burning of the South Bronx took it down a few pegs, but the neighborhood in rebounding with the renovation of many buildings and large stretches now city landmarks.

The Grand Concourse is served by B and D subway trains. The median two-bedroom apartment rents for $1,900.

Mott Haven is an old industrial area at the southern end of the Bronx with a concentration of low-income housing projects and three historic residential districts. The last decade has seen the conversion of industrial buildings into loft housing and offices, along with new construction.

The attraction is no mystery; it’s closer to midtown than much of northern Manhattan.
Mott Haven is served by the 2, 4, 5 and 6 trains. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,950.

Flatbush is a residential neighborhood stretching south-southeast from the bottom of Prospect Park to include Brooklyn College. The neighborhood is diverse ethnically and in housing types; there are apartment buildings, row houses and large Victorian homes. Flatbush Avenue is the bustling commercial street that includes the classic old Kings Theater which has been spectacularly restored into a performance space.

The neighborhood is served by the 2 and 5 trains. The median rent for a two-bedroom is$2,250.

Woodside is served by the elevated 7 train, the M and R trains and even a Long Island Rail Road stop. That easy access to midtown and a supply of reasonably priced rentals has kept Woodside a popular area.

An originally Irish neighborhood, Woodside is more diverse now, though Roosevelt Avenue contains a series of Irish pubs. Along with neighboring Sunnyside, Woodside has a growing food scene as diverse as its population. A median two-bedroom apartment rents for $2,500.

Ridgewood is tied to Manhattan by the L and M trains (the opposite end of the M line that serves Woodside) which then run through Brooklyn. That connection may be responsible for the growing number of generally young, former Brooklyn residents settling in this Queens neighborhood, known for its many two- and three-story town houses.

With those younger residents have come a much-noted food scene that clusters along several streets, most notably Fresh Pond Road. The median rent for a two bedroom is $2,550.

Hamilton Heights was named after Alexander Hamilton who spent his last two years at a home preserved today as the Hamilton Grange National Memorial. Its growing popularity has more to do with the housing stock here and less to do with the Broadway musical about this founding father. This northern Manhattan neighborhood slopes down to the Hudson River and features blocks of attractive houses and apartment buildings.

It’s served by the A and D trains. The median two bedroom rents for $2,700.

Yorkvillein Manhattan came to be called Little Germany for the German immigrants who settled there in the late 1800s. Today, Yorkville’s character is linked to the Upper East Side but it seemed to lose some of that luster due to the disruption from construction of the Second Avenue subway.

With the subway scheduled to start by year’s end bringing transit service directly to the neighborhood, Yorkville seems to be undergoing a resurgence. The median-priced two-bedroom rents for $2,950 per month.