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Tracking The Insane Rents Along The L Line

By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published Jun 17, 2014

Modified Jun 17, 2014

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We'll miss you, L train.

 

Idle Type / Flickr

By

Rebecca Fishbein

Published Jun 17, 2014

Modified Jun 17, 2014

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It's no secret that the L train is supercooltrendyhip now, what with the Urban Outfitters bars and JeffRidgeWickTownBergLyns springing up all over the place. And, as decreed by the ghosts of Peters Minuit and Stuyvesant, as the bespoke $15 cocktail joints move in, so do the evil GENTRIFICATION MONSTERS who gobble up obscenely priced apartments. Now, just to make sure everyone really knows how crazy it's gotten, a real estate blog has assessed the rent damage done in Brooklyn along the L line. Do not read further if you paid rent in Williamsburg in 2005.

The Brick Underground teamed up with StreetEasy to crunch a few numbers, and found the flagship Bedford L stop boasts a median rent of $3,350 a month, with the rest of Williamsburg ranging from $3,500 (Lorimer) to $2,750 (Montrose) in median rent. Bushwick, meanwhile, runs median rents ranging from $3,125 (Morgan) to $2400 (Myrtle-Wyckoff), with Broadway Junction, located at the border of Bed-Stuy and East New York, running a mere $1,495-a-month median.

But before you start spamming Padmapper listings in BedEaNyBerg, a few notes. StreetEasy only included rentals located within five blocks of the stop, so presumably cheaper apartments that require a slightly farther stroll/sprint to and from the subway don't get to bring down the median (on the flip side, they also excluded super-pricy waterfront condos, so who knows how much the Richie McRiches at The Edge could skew the numbers).

And an accounting of median rent doesn't mean you can't find a solid deal in any of these neighborhoods—I don't know anyone who pays more than $1K-a-room in Bushwick, and even that seems like a ripoff, considering Jefftown's pungent collection of empty beer bottles, trash bags and unwrapped mattresses ripening in the summer sun.

Still sobbing? Keep in mind that there are 23 other service lines in the NYC subway system, and the L will ultimately forgive you if you choose to find less-hip housing along one of them. You two can still be friends! Unless you move off the G train. Stay away from that minx.

Tagged

brooklyn

expensive

housing

l train

williamsburg

Rebecca Fishbein

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