Second Avenue Real Estate Is Booming

With three new subway stations finally open on Second Avenue between 63rd and 96th streets, this previously lackluster stretch of town is suddenly booming. “We’re seeing a spike in prices and new development,” says Beth Benalloul, a Corcoran Group Real Estate broker who specializes in the area. “The subway is driving people to look here.” According to a Halstead Property Development Marketing report issued late last year, at least 19 new residential towers are under construction in the vicinity, including a condo conversion at 389 East 89th Street, the Robert A.M. Stern–designed 20 East End Avenue, and the 84-unit condo development Citizen360—located on East 89th Street at First Avenue—which will open to residents this summer. “Families are drawn to the area,” says Stephen Glascock, president of Citizen360 developer Anbau, “and the subway opening will only get more New Yorkers to start taking the neighborhood seriously.”