Lenox Hill 

Lenox Hill is a neighborhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It forms the lower section of the Upper East Side, closest to Midtown. Residents are a mix of ages, ethnicities and backgrounds from recent grads to the deeply-rooted older inhabitants, remnants of the UES immigrant population. Many people moving in are in their 20s & 30s and want all the 24-hour benefits of city life like grocery shopping at midnight and easy access to the variety of hopping bars and restaurants lining the avenues. With the advent of new brand name retailers along 3rd Avenue and Bridgemarket—a renovated area under the 59th St. Bridge that houses a Food Emporium, Conran’s and a Starbucks, residents don’t need to leave the neighborhood to do their shopping. The old 3rd Avenue El was the centerpiece of Lenox Hill, which runs from 59th to 79th streets; from Second Avenue to York Avenues. Only after the El was torn down in the mid-50s, did Lenox Hill really undergo development. It houses large, post-war block apartment buildings and pre-war row houses and walk-ups while its side streets have mansions and town houses owned by consulates, diplomatic missions and art galleries.

Here, one can find surprisingly affordable rentals (one-bedrooms and studios) and co-ops (due probably to the distance from the subway) which were once populated by just-out-of-college kids. Now, due to the economic surge in the past 10 years, the lowered Central Park crime rate and the increasing popularity of the Upper East Side as a status residence, they are filled with young professionals and families. In order to somewhat mimic the grander apartments to the west, landlords have started to convert the former tiny studios and one-bedrooms to larger spaces where families can live. This is raising rents and costs, but on average, they are still lower than the rest of borough. The eastern section of the Lenox Hill is ideal for renters with some good deals still to be had, especially if you are post-college sharing with one or more roommates. Public transportation is the one drawback. The area is poorly served by the beleaguered Lexington Avenue line, and crosstown bus service is slow. If one lives very far east, taking the subway doesn’t even make sense. Even though ground was officially broken for the 2nd Avenue Subway in 2007, with a first-phase completion date of 2014, transit relief won’t be coming anytime soon.