Real Estate
Most Lower East Side buildings are tenements in need of renovation, which means you just might find a one-bedroom rental for less than $1,000 (it helps to speak Chinese). Rare loft conversions are still a relative bargain.

40. 50 Orchard Street
This Christmas, the sixteen two-bedroom condos in this new luxury development will sell in the $1.5 million to low $3 million range. For that, you get Bosch appliances, Italian cabinetry, and a communal roof deck. Through Larry Michaels at Douglas Elliman, 212-891-7072.

41. 345 Grand Street
“The only cast-iron building in the Lower East Side,” claims Corcoran’s Glenn E. Schiller (212-941-2561). Three of its six units sold for less than $2 million—a million less than a few blocks west in Soho.

42. 173–175 East Broadway:
The landmarked home of the Yiddish-language Daily Forward newspaper went condo a few years ago, but its units are only now coming on the market, for $575,000 to $4.5 million. Through Michael Bolla at 212-334-4855.

43. 118 Forsyth Street
From the outside, you’d never suspect this building is full of pristine 2,300-square-foot co-ops for $1.6 million (they went for far less two years back). Call Jeffrey Stockwell at 646-613-2715.

44. 79 Delancey Street
Renovated about three years ago, this former bank—the first Jewish financial institution in the city, according to Misrahi Realty’s Chris Crane (212-475-6660)—has rare vacancies for big-windowed apartments that range from $1,900 to $3,000.

Related:

• Archive: “Neighborhood Maps”
• Articles by Matt Gross
• Table of Contents: May 8, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!