Nolita

By Patrick Verel | Special to amNewYork

April 27, 2006

Several lifetimes ago, Little Italy was a thriving pocket of immigrants from a certain Southern European country stretching into the Mediterranean. Over time, most of them left, and the residents of Chinatown filled much of the void.

The sliver of land below East Houston Street between SoHo and the Lower East Side, North of Little Italy, or "NoLita," has retained a lot of old-world charm thanks to an abundance of rent-stabilized and rent-controlled former tenements -- but it is changing, slowly.

Steve Tarter, president of Tarter/Stats Realty, said the neighborhood has stayed remarkably stable in the 25 years he's been there.

"The only real difference is the stores. They've gone through an amazing transformation -- from small mom-and-pop service stores to very cutting-edge, young designer stores," he said. "The nickname for here is the accessories district."

The crowd moving in tends to reflect those sensibilities, and like nearby SoHo, it draws a fair share of models and actors.

Angelo Diaz, an independent broker, said the renovated century-old buildings in the area provide a plethora of studios in the $1,800 to $2,000 range and a smidgen of one-bedrooms for $2,300 and two-bedrooms for $2,700 a month.

"The people I rent to are younger people -- people who like an 'in' neighborhood. It has French bistros, cafés and a lot of vibrant life where you can meet people," he said.

For newer offerings, look to the east.

"The single biggest change is the development of the Bowery, from flophouses to incredibly cutting-edge, quality residential buildings," Tarter said. "It's the coolest street in the city, and it's continuing to evolve."

Find it

NoLita is bounded on the north by East Houston Street, on the east by the Bowery, on the south roughly by Broome Street, and on the west by Lafayette Street.

The Buzz

As in virtually every part of Manhattan, the talk is of real estate and the escalating cost of calling NoLita home.

Most new development in NoLita is taking place over on the Bowery, but keep an eye on the southeast corner of Mulberry and East Houston streets. The now-empty deli across from the Puck Building will soon be leveled, and from that space and the empty lot behind it will spring an 11-story residential building.

Ground-breaking for the building, which will house nine luxury condominiums (including a two-story penthouse), is scheduled to begin this summer. It is being built by Cardinal Investments and designed by ShoP Architects, known for the zinc and glass Porter House in the Meatpacking District.

To see

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

The oldest Roman Catholic church in New York is, as its name implies, the predecessor to the more famous cathedral uptown. The cathedral, which was finished in 1815 and was the seat of the Roman Catholic church until 1879, was designed by Joseph Francois Mangin, who also worked on City Hall. The grounds of the church are surrounded by an 18th-century cemetery, and the basement of the church is a labyrinth of mortuary vaults. It's as big a symbol of Old World New York as they come.
263 Mulberry St.
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