58 Macon Street Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photo: Corcoran |
This week, I checked in on a friend who’s suddenly in apartment-panic mode. Her Williamsburg place is getting sold, so she needs a yearlong lease — fast. We had dinner last week, and she’d just signed a lease on a hallway apartment above the Myrtle-Broadway station with a charming view of the train tracks. One glass of wine and some delicate hints from me later, she realized she couldn’t do it. Thanks to ChatGPT, she was able to back out at no cost (keyword: withdraw). I offered to help her find a new apartment. Her requirements? Manhattan, under $5,000, and preferably somewhere that doesn’t come with a built-in train soundtrack. Naturally, I had to stop by Bed-Stuy and Boerum Hill, too, because I am who I am.
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$2,800, studio: This tiny closet for ants is indeed small and antlike, but it’s in Manhattan and it’s within the price range.
$3,985, 1-bedroom: Hate an over-varnished floor and hate a hallway apartment, but the bedroom is pretty with nice light. Good building and location, too.
$4,100, 1-bedroom: It’s a hallway apartment, but it’s a cute hallway apartment. |
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332 East 9th Street Photo: Mirador Real Estate |
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$4,450, studio: She’s stunning, but my friend has a husband, so this won’t do. |
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245 East 11th Street Photo: Brodsky |
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$5,995, 1-bedroom: I love an old steel door. Nice apartment with middling design flourishes.
$7,300, 2-bedroom: Totally livable prewar (with nice parquet and a rounded corner here and there) but a scoffable price point. This would be under $4,000 in Brooklyn, sorry to say.
$12,000, 1-bedroom: Deviates from the brief, but whatever — I make the rules here, okay? It’s a loft, and I will not resist listing a loft that I like. Don’t love the monochrome here, but this place is undeniably sexy and respectfully renovated. |
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59 4th Avenue Photo: Compass |
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$11,000, 1-bedroom: Why is this so expensive? I will never know, but the parquet floors and the windows are nice. Having a little whiplash from the framed Ralph Lauren ad in the bathroom and the pregnant torso sculptures, but trying not to be too judgy. |
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129 Lafayette Street Photo: Douglas Elliman |
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$4,995, 1-bedroom: A kind of ugly condo, but I’m trying to picture it adjusted: with new paint, without doily bathroom wallpaper, and without that strange little floating cabinet in the kitchen. Plus there’s a lot more space than Manhattan, and it’s a doorman building.
$4,950, 2-bedroom: Strange, sort of bizarro railroad-style apartment with a ton of windows, a working fireplace, and some nice bathroom tiling. Ignore the grayish reclaimed-wood additions to the kitchen. |
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336 State Street Photo: Compass |
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$2,850, 1-bedroom: Might not be Manhattan, but it’s certainly in the right price range, with a particularly stunning private garden.
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598 Halsey Street Photo: Compass |
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$3,000, 1-bedroom: Have listed this ground-floor brownstone apartment before. A little worse for wear, but with personality and a nicely renovated bathroom.
$3,502, 1-bedroom: Another not-Manhattan and affordable option. Brownstone floor-through with great light and a not-so-great pocket kitchen.
$7,750, 3-bedroom: Huge triplex at a good price point (for a triplex, okay). I like the mahogany paneling in the kitchen, but I’m not loving the bedroom layouts. Feels like an intense departure from the rest of the house. |
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313 MacDonough Street Photo: Courtesy the owner |
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$13,995, 3-bedroom: You might be asking yourself how this listing relates to my search — it doesn’t, but it’s a fabulous townhouse, so get over it. Not my favorite stain on the woodwork, but we can look past it. |
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