Far West Side

By Patrick Verel | Special to amNewYork

March 1, 2007

Wander down Eighth or Ninth avenues in the 40s and 50s and you're surrounded by classic midtown Manhattan -- new office towers, restaurants, night clubs and theaters. Then there are 10th and 11th avenues.

You're still more likely to find a chop shop than a hot dog vendor on 11th Avenue, but that won't last for long. Far from the gaze of tourists in the theater district, the extreme west side of midtown is undergoing a transformation.

More and more restaurants are opening and thriving -- along these avenues and fancy glass residential towers are sprouting up all over signaling that this once wild west outpost is a thriving real estate frontier.

Find it

The Far West Side is bordered by West 57th Street to the north, Ninth Avenue to the east, West 42nd Street to the south and the Hudson River to the west.

The Basics
Transportation
Bus: M11, 31, 42, 50

Crime
Midtown North primarily covers the Far West Side. The precinct has had no murders, three rapes and 25 robberies this year, compared to one murder, one rape and 25 robberies at this time last year. Last year, the precinct reported a total of four murders, four rapes and 227 robberies.

Schools
P.S. 51, 520 W 45th St., P.S./I.S. 111, 440 W. 53rd St., H.S. 625, 439 West 49th St., H.S. 400, 444 West 56th St., Independence High School, 850 10th Ave., H.S. 535, 525 West 50th St.

Post Offices
340 W 42nd St., 322 W 52nd St.

Banks
Chase, 839 Ninth Ave., 471 W 42nd St., Citibank, 401 W. 42nd St., Commerce Bank, 582-586 Ninth Ave., HSBC, 601 West 57th St.

Real Estate
The Far West Side is slightly schizophrenic when it comes to pricing. Most of the housing is found in walk-up tenements, which Citi Spaces owner Israel Horowitz says will average from $1,800 to $2,000 a month for a nice one-bedroom and $2,800 to $3,000 a month for a two-bedroom.

Luxury buildings began popping up in earnest in 1998 with the arrival of the 375-unit, 33-story New Gotham tower on West 43rd Street, and have been drastically changing the landscape ever since. A one-bedroom apartment in a building chock full of amenities will veer more toward $2,700 to $3,200 a month.

The trend in building is definitely skewed toward high-end, high-rise apartment buildings.