Is Manhattan the New Brooklyn?

Priced out of Brooklyn's hippest neighborhoods, young professionals who may have once fled Manhattan in search of affordable housing and "postindustrial charm" are making the reverse move in search of cheaper rents, reports Laura Kusisto.

1 minute read

July 26, 2012, 8:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


With the average rental price of a studio apartment higher in Williamsburgh than in Greenwich Village, and trends indicating the disparity will continue, "once-dedicated Manhattanites [who] crossed the bridge to Brooklyn reluctantly" are astonishingly making "the reverse move with some trepidation."

Kusisto follows 33-year-old Pilates studio owner Kate Artibee, and her husband, Nick
Smallwood, who "moved to the Upper East Side in late 2009 after she had lived
in Williamsburg and then Park Slope for 13 years and was feeling priced
out."

"We could afford the tiniest studio you've ever seen in Park Slope,
or move to the Upper East Side and live in a brownstone," Ms. Artibee
said.

"She hesitated when asked whether she considered her new neighborhood 'cool.' But she said she and her husband have grown to love the area
around their apartment on 87th Street between York and East End avenues,
which 'has the charm that you would want in Brooklyn that is quickly
disappearing.'"

 

Tuesday, July 24, 2012 in The Wall Street Journal

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

October 28, 2026 - Zachary Whalen

A car drives through a puddle, making a large splash. Rain pours down.

California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour

If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.

October 28, 2026 - Grist

Lake Powell with much of the water evaporated.

Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River

Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.

October 30, 2026 - Yale Environment 360

Mamdani behind a microphone, in front of a snowbank

Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge

A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.

3 hours ago - CNN

A road in north eastern Nebraska with power lines on either side, and grassy fields.

Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity

Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.

4 hours ago - Grist

People board a bus in Seattle.

Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion

Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.

5 hours ago - KOMO News

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.