NEIGHBORHOOD

Once considered a secret, buyers and renters are beginning to look at Washington Heights as Manhattan’s next “hot” neighborhood.

Washington Heights begins at West 154th Street and extends to West 181st Street. To the east, the Harlem River provides views of the Bronx while to the west; the Hudson River provides stunning views of the George Washington Bridge and New Jersey.

The neighborhood is predominantly residential. Once a playground for the rich who wish to escape Lower Manhattan in the late 1800s-early 1900s, Washington Heights has been an area occupied by Russian and Latin American Immigrants. With a reduction in crime, many Manhattanites have begun to realize that Manhattan truly does not end at 96th Street anymore and this positive sign has made Washington Heights a new hotspot for buyers and renters.

For buyers and renters, apartments are found in many low-rise pre-wars but a large number of Art Deco and Tudor-style apartments exist while the brownstones that line the area are large and spacious with prices far below their 96th Street counterparts. Luxury co-op apartments dot Riverside Drive north of 155th Street and south of Fort Tyron Park. Many Manhattanites are attached to the views of the George Washington Bridge as well as the vast expanses of greenery not found below 96th Street. Many professionals can take a twenty-minute train ride downtown while hopping in their cars to shop in New Jersey.

Many amenities are found in Washington Heights. New York Presbyterian Hospital has been in Washington Heights since the 1920s. Other cultural icons of the area include the Cloisters, Yeshiva University and Inwood Hill Park. Shopping and dining is usually done along Broadway, St. Nicholas Avenue and West 181st Street.