NYC: downtown v. midtown Forum

[Anonymous User]

Which is better considering:
Ease of commute
Cost of housing
Restaurants
Things to do

[Old Gregg]

Wouldn't ease of commute depend on where you live???

[Anonymous User]

Which is better considering:
Ease of commute - depends on where you decide to live
Cost of housing - Financial district is cheaper, Village is expensive, Midtown is an awful place to live
Restaurants - Midtown, but dependent on what you like
Things to do - Midtown easily

Answered above, though I'm assuming you mean financial district by "downtown"

[mr. wednesday]

Is this to work in or live in? I wouldn't live in either.

[Tiago Splitter]

Housing downtown (at least in the Financial District) is cheaper and nicer, but there is less to do. There also tend to be a lot more tourists in midtown, so it's more crowded and can be tougher to get around.

[badaboom61]

Downtown is a very easy commute from a lot of Brooklyn, which has more to do than downtown and depending on how far out you go is quite a bit cheaper than Manhattan (the nearby parts aren't).

[Anonymous User]

Best bang for your buck + great area to live is central park NW. Pretty much the boarder of Manhattan Valley, Morningside and Harlem. Really up and coming area with access to the B/C and 1/2/3 trains. Really good sized apartments are on the market there for pretty cheap comparatively and you have direct access to everything NYC has to offer. Would definitely consider it no matter where you work.

If Midtown v. Downtown:

- Ease of Commute - depends on where you live and work (obviously)
- Cost of Housing - Downtown is definitely cheaper - battery park and the rest of FiDi is pretty cheap relative to the size and quality of the apartments, however, SoHo, Tribecca, the village, etc are ridiculously expensive. Midtown is absurdly expensive and the apartments suck - literally have never seen a nice apartment in midtown that wasn't 4K a month +
- Restaurants - again, depends what you mean by downtown - the villege/soho/ABC city has amazing spots to eat. FiDi has meh spots and they get old real fast. Midtown, again, sucks and everything is overpriced, but there are some decent spots in Hells Kitchen.
- Things to do - doesn't matter, you can take a cab or the subway anywhere you want.

Honestly though, midtown fucking sucks, I would never live there. The best places to look would be East Village or ABC City. Also, where I recommended if you like the vibe of the UWS and want a more residential feel for 1/2 the price of the west village.

[Anonymous User]

Best bang for your buck + great area to live is central park NW. Pretty much the boarder of Manhattan Valley, Morningside and Harlem. Really up and coming area with access to the B/C and 1/2/3 trains. Really good sized apartments are on the market there for pretty cheap comparatively and you have direct access to everything NYC has to offer. Would definitely consider it no matter where you work.

If Midtown v. Downtown:

- Ease of Commute - depends on where you live and work (obviously)
- Cost of Housing - Downtown is definitely cheaper - battery park and the rest of FiDi is pretty cheap relative to the size and quality of the apartments, however, SoHo, Tribecca, the village, etc are ridiculously expensive. Midtown is absurdly expensive and the apartments suck - literally have never seen a nice apartment in midtown that wasn't 4K a month +
- Restaurants - again, depends what you mean by downtown - the villege/soho/ABC city has amazing spots to eat. FiDi has meh spots and they get old real fast. Midtown, again, sucks and everything is overpriced, but there are some decent spots in Hells Kitchen.
- Things to do - doesn't matter, you can take a cab or the subway anywhere you want.

Honestly though, midtown fucking sucks, I would never live there. The best places to look would be East Village or ABC City. Also, where I recommended if you like the vibe of the UWS and want a more residential feel for 1/2 the price of the west village.

There are plenty of nice, affordable apartments in HK and Midtown East/ Murray Hill. Given your recommendation of Alphabet City (LOL), I can tell that maybe you just don't like the type of people that live in midtown.

[$$$$$$]

Best bang for your buck + great area to live is central park NW. Pretty much the boarder of Manhattan Valley, Morningside and Harlem. Really up and coming area with access to the B/C and 1/2/3 trains. Really good sized apartments are on the market there for pretty cheap comparatively and you have direct access to everything NYC has to offer. Would definitely consider it no matter where you work.

If Midtown v. Downtown:

- Ease of Commute - depends on where you live and work (obviously)
- Cost of Housing - Downtown is definitely cheaper - battery park and the rest of FiDi is pretty cheap relative to the size and quality of the apartments, however, SoHo, Tribecca, the village, etc are ridiculously expensive. Midtown is absurdly expensive and the apartments suck - literally have never seen a nice apartment in midtown that wasn't 4K a month +
- Restaurants - again, depends what you mean by downtown - the villege/soho/ABC city has amazing spots to eat. FiDi has meh spots and they get old real fast. Midtown, again, sucks and everything is overpriced, but there are some decent spots in Hells Kitchen.
- Things to do - doesn't matter, you can take a cab or the subway anywhere you want.

Honestly though, midtown fucking sucks, I would never live there. The best places to look would be East Village or ABC City. Also, where I recommended if you like the vibe of the UWS and want a more residential feel for 1/2 the price of the west village.

There are plenty of nice, affordable apartments in HK and Midtown East/ Murray Hill. Given your recommendation of Alphabet City (LOL), I can tell that maybe you just don't like the type of people that live in midtown.

ABC CIty is awesome, tons of great spots to eat and great laid back bars, maybe not the best for some awesome biglaw lawyer, but its one of the few remaining laid back spots in the city. It's not the people in midtown, I have plenty of friends that live there, its just the fact that midtown sucks. Traffic is brutal, no parking anywhere if people want to visit you, and there is nothing exceptional about getting a 1 bedroom closet with no AC for 3,200 bucks. Other than HK, there is not one area that is appealing other than ease of commute.

[guano]

Alphabet city is not a good idea for a working professional (too far from the subway)

[haroldfordIII]

If you work downtown, you'd also have jersey city + hoboken as options (great housing for a lot less than manhattan).

[guano]

If you work downtown, you'd also have jersey city + hoboken as options (great housing for a lot less than manhattan).

JC is a fucking ghetto, but Hoboken is credited - refresh my memory, how often does the path run?

[anon168]

Even if I worked in midtown I wouldn't want to live in that area, especially midtown west. Maybe midtown east or Hell's Kitchen but if you're going that far out might as well look somewhere else entirely.

[haroldfordIII]

If you work downtown, you'd also have jersey city + hoboken as options (great housing for a lot less than manhattan).

JC is a fucking ghetto, but Hoboken is credited - refresh my memory, how often does the path run?

During weekday from Hoboken to WTC, every 10 mins; it's a 10min ride total.

[guano]

Even if I worked in midtown I wouldn't want to live in that area, especially midtown west. Maybe midtown east or Hell's Kitchen but if you're going that far out might as well look somewhere else entirely.

Depends: midtown east you can live in Murray hill or the UES
Midtown west and you can live in UWS, Chelsea or the Village.

All of those options are reasonable commutes

[guano]

If you work downtown, you'd also have jersey city + hoboken as options (great housing for a lot less than manhattan).

JC is a fucking ghetto, but Hoboken is credited - refresh my memory, how often does the path run?

During weekday from Hoboken to WTC, every 10 mins; it's a 10min ride total.

What about late night?

[haroldfordIII]

If you work downtown, you'd also have jersey city + hoboken as options (great housing for a lot less than manhattan).

JC is a fucking ghetto, but Hoboken is credited - refresh my memory, how often does the path run?

During weekday from Hoboken to WTC, every 10 mins; it's a 10min ride total.

What about late night?

http://www.panynj.gov/path/full-schedules.html

If you are talking from NY to hoboken, I'd just bank on the firm car service.

[Anonymous User]

If you work downtown, you'd also have jersey city + hoboken as options (great housing for a lot less than manhattan).

JC is a fucking ghetto, but Hoboken is credited - refresh my memory, how often does the path run?

Exchange Place and Paulus Hook are cleaner and nicer than the nicest parts of Manhattan. Also, no city tax.

[Anonymous User]

If you work downtown, you'd also have jersey city + hoboken as options (great housing for a lot less than manhattan).

JC is a fucking ghetto, but Hoboken is credited - refresh my memory, how often does the path run?

During weekday from Hoboken to WTC, every 10 mins; it's a 10min ride total.

What about late night?

The areas that I'm talking about above are 100% safe. Take this as a biglaw associate who lives and commutes from there. Also my apartment is nicer than yoursz

[guano]

The areas that I'm talking about above are 100% safe. Take this as a biglaw associate who lives and commutes from there. Also my apartment is nicer than yoursz

JC might be safe, but it's a dumb. Hoboken is great, but late at night the commute's a bitch. And I severely doubt you've got nicer accommodations than me, but that's not part if the discussion

[Anonymous User]

The areas that I'm talking about above are 100% safe. Take this as a biglaw associate who lives and commutes from there. Also my apartment is nicer than yoursz

JC might be safe, but it's a dumb. Hoboken is great, but late at night the commute's a bitch. And I severely doubt you've got nicer accommodations than me, but that's not part if the discussion

How's it dumb??? If you work in FiDi, your commute is 10 minutes. You save $700 a month on city tax, and your rent is lower. Also the apartments have central heating, floor to ceiling windows, etc. basically your manhattan mima rental in JC.

Hoboken is great too... More to do for sure, but commute is not nearly as good. Also, they had no path for like 5 months after sandy because entire area was underwater.

Either way, it's obvious you don't know what you're talking about LOL

[haroldfordIII]

The areas that I'm talking about above are 100% safe. Take this as a biglaw associate who lives and commutes from there. Also my apartment is nicer than yoursz

JC might be safe, but it's a dumb. Hoboken is great, but late at night the commute's a bitch. And I severely doubt you've got nicer accommodations than me, but that's not part if the discussion

Just to advocate for JC a bit. I've personally been in the building below and it's spectacular. Area's pretty nice too. Bottom line: if BK is in the convo, then JC and Hoboken should be as well. Commuting issues are a wash.

http://www.monacojc.com/

[guano]

I meant to say dump, not dumb. Like I said before, Hoboken is definitely a cool place and I'd say a better option than Brooklyn, but I recall long waits for the path late at night, so I thought I'd ask. JC is no worse than LIC or upper Harlem, but I wouldn't want to live there either.

[Anonymous User]

I meant to say dump, not dumb. Like I said before, Hoboken is definitely a cool place and I'd say a better option than Brooklyn, but I recall long waits for the path late at night, so I thought I'd ask. JC is no worse than LIC or upper Harlem, but I wouldn't want to live there either.

Again, what are we comparing? I'd never, ever live in Journal Square. But Exchange Place? Paulus Hook? Those areas are crazy fucking clean, way cleaner and nicer than any area of Manhattan. Easily.

Is there a lot to do in Jersey City? No. That's the big flaw. Mostly a community of families as opposed to singles (Hoboken). I'd say the border between "dump" and "super nice" is just beyond the Grove Street Path Station.

As a first year, I was living in one of the nicest areas of Manhattan. My area and place in JC is 10x better, and my rent $800 cheaper, and my paycheck $700 higher.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Needs more info. Where is your office, what do you like to do, what do you mean by "midtown" and "downtown."