Medium Happiness

Copper Hill: East Harlem, New Rental Units at outrageous prices; These developers have to be fucking kidding.

“JUST STEPS FROM Central Park, Copper Hill is the newest addition to Upper East Side living,(East Harlem, ass holes) offering a virtual doorman, fitness center, private rooftop deck, lounge, playroom and courtyard.  With spacious floorplans, floor-to-ceiling windows, and condominium-style finishes, Copper Hill offers an urban oasis at an amazing value.”

I’ve been keeping an eye on the, ahem, Copper Hill building at 101st Street and Lexington Ave for the past year as it’s slowly been built. Judging by the looks of the building, I would be very surprised if  it was originally conceived to be a rental project. It looks like they spent way to much on details like the nice, rust colored cladding and expensive floor-to-ceiling windows for it to be a viable rental project. It’s probably just another story of a developer who got caught with their dick in the wind when the real estate market shit the bed. And the NYC real estate market is just getting started, I think, when it comes to bed shitting. So rather than let their units sit on the market for 700 days, the developers decided they’d service the development debt by renting them out. Sounds easy enough? Wrong. The prices they are looking to rent the Copper Hill units at are astronomical for East Harlem/el Barrio. Seriously, these people are out of their minds if they think their going to get any takers with a price list like this:

I’ve lived in East Harlem/el Barrio for over 4 years and have seen the area slowly change by small bits here and there, but the notion, which many people misguidedly hold, that East Harlem/el Barrio is a neighborhood on the verge of some kind of gentrification explosion are out of their minds. The area is home to a large percentage of what little affordable housing remains in Manhattan and it’s not going anywhere. There are some very definite constraints that will make what ever sweeping yuppification of East Harlem/el Barrio a lot of people are looking for very difficult, which is probably for the best. It’s fine the way it is. Yes, it’s a cool place to live; but do not consider moving there if you’re an amenities/fancy restaurant/bar whore or feel uncomfortable being a minority in a neighborhood.