Bean Town Is Jumping

Historic Beacon Hill, the elegant Back Bay, and the restaurant-rich North End are three areas that tourists typically gravitate to when they are in Boston. But all three areas are now old news in the City upon a Hill. The big news in Boston is the revival of a series of less-celebrated, outlying neighborhoods. Today, living in the 51-square-mile, 370-year-old city of 574,000 is considered so desirable that rents are soaring. The median advertised rent for a two-bedroom apartment reached $1,550 in 1999, up 76 percent from $882 in 1995, according to the office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino. And the Department of Neighborhood Development reports that the median price of one-, two-, and three-family houses and condominium units in the city rose to $182,000, up 52 percent from $120,000 in 1995.NOTE: The full text of this article may only be available to ULI members.