Morningside Heights is the academic quarter of New York City. It stretches irregularly from north of 96th Street to about 123rd Street between Morningside Park and Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

From the top of a 135-foot bluff, it overlooks the Hudson River on one side and Harlem on the other. It is about 15 minutes from midtown Manhattan by subway. With apartments on the "Gold Coast" of Riverside Drive selling for well over $1,000,000, Morningside Heights is one of the more desirable residential neighborhoods in Manhattan.

The Ariel, two new luxury residential towers across the street from each other at 99th & Broadway are currently being erected. One tower will be 31 stories tall and have 73 units, the other will be 37 stories tall and have 65 units. The Ariel is selling family sized apartments with 2 bedrooms starting at $1,500,000.

Ariel East on Broadway is going up next to the famous Metro Theatre. This jewel of a neighborhood movie house gained landmark status because of it's handsome glazed-terra-cotta Art Deco facade and beautiful neon marquee. Unfortunately only the outside of the building has landmark status. The inside space is currently available for rent to a store. The theatre is nestled between two high rise buildings. The new 37 story glass Ariel to the north and the 17 story 1930 Art Deco co-op The Trafalgar at 233 W. 99th Street to the south.

            <- Metro - Ariel ->

New condos at 455 Central Park West between 105^th and 106^th Street is a restored French renaissance style chateau building originally built in 1887 as a cancer hospital. The building has 5 round turrets because at the time it was built corners were thought to harbor germs.  A new tower was added to the original building in 2004. Columbia University bought 15 floors in the new building.

Another new condo was recently built at 110th and Broadway and another new building Avalon Morningside Park a new rental building going up at Morningside Drive and 110^th Street will have a 2 story glass entrance. 59 of the 296 units will be reserved for low income households.

Columbia University has been building new luxury buildings along Broadway. Columbia owns 7,000 apartments, for professors, staff and graduate students as well as several undergraduate dorms and converted apartment buildings in the neighborhood.

Columbia has plans to expand the campus from Morningside Heights to include 17 acres from 129th St. to 133rd Street in West Harlem. The expansion plan will take 25 years with phase 1 to be completed by 2015.

A new kind of urban academic community for the next quarter century gradually will be woven into the fabric of the surrounding community according to Columbia. The new development will utilize and convert some existing manufacturing plants in the Manhattanville industrial section including The Studebaker plant. Open public roads and spaces through the Manhattanville campus will connect West Harlem to the Hudson river waterfront.

  Columbia University Campus from a 1915 postcard                    

                                       Columbia Campus today

Morningside Heights is currently home to about 35,000 people, and over the years has housed a long list of famous individuals, intellectuals and students, charming bookstores, cafes and bars as well as world-renowned institutions, including: 

• Columbia University                                                                                                     Grant's Tomb
• Barnard College
• Union Theological Seminary                                                                            
• Jewish Theological Seminary                 
• Bank St. College of Education
• Manhattan School of Music
• Cathedral of Saint John the Divine
• Riverside Church
• Grant's Tomb
  

                                             Riverside Church

Morningside Heights by the numbers: (source Miller Samuel data of Morningside Heights and Hamilton Heights)

Morningside Heights increased 42.6% with average sale prices increasing from $355,157 in Q4 2005 to $506,3555 in Q4 2006.

Average Sale price:                  4Q-05 $355,157 - 4Q-06 $506,355

Median sale price:                    4Q-05 $242,000 - 4Q-06 4415,000     +71.5%

Average price per square foot:  4Q -05 $520 - 4Q-06 $529      +7.5%

Manhattan Neighborhood Real Estate Market Reports:

A blog series courtesy of:  Mitchell Hall, Associate Broker, The Corcoran Group

Harlem

Morningside Heights

Upper West Side

Chelsea

Clinton / Hells Kitchen

Greenwich Village

SoHo

Tribeca

Battery Park City

©Mitchell Hall 2006-2009