Downtown may be enjoying more buzz. But the Upper West Side, that not-too-edgy, not-too-bland land of large parks and elegant prewar facades, is holding up its end of the conversation.
Lines snake out the door during open houses in the neighborhood, which by many definitions runs from Columbus Circle to Columbia University between Central and Riverside Parks. Verdi Square, by the West 72nd Street subway stop, has become as much a place to hang out as pass through, round the clock. And many residents insist they wouldn’t consider living anywhere else.
Naturally, then, prices remain among the highest in the city, though that may only partly have to do with strong demand.
For the past few years, the Upper West Side has suffered from a severe shortage of inventory, according to housing data, even as other Manhattan neighborhoods have been adding apartments.
