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The Meatpacking District was never a place people wanted to live in. Red ran through the streets every morning and the stench of dead meat filled the air. Not to say that the butchers have all relocated, but the blood that flows through the streets has definitely lessened to a much smaller extent. As the area was gentrified and the butchers moved out to the Bronx, the little area of real estate has skyrocketed. The beautification of the High Line has definitely been a large contributing factor to the increase in rent and prices of apartments. “Office rents range from $75 a square foot to as high as $100 a square foot, according to developers in the area. As for retail, asking rent on West 14th Street west of Ninth Avenue is $350 a square foot. West 14th Street serves as the main shopping area. Along Washington Street it ranges from $250 to $500 a square foot, and Gansevoort Street is typically $200 to $250 a square foot,” according to Karen Bellantoni, an executive vice president for the retail brokerage firm RKF. Average asking rent came out to $183 per square foot in the Village and Meatpacking District in the first quarter of 2013, up 11 percent from $165 at the beginning of 2012 and commercial rental costs could triple with the opening of the new Whitney Museum of American Art in 2015, according to Massey Knakal Realty Services.
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Many old structures and commercial buildings that used to be home to the daily delivery of fresh meat are now fronted by high-end stores, prestigious clubs and beautiful restaurants. William Gottlieb Real Estate is hoping to open a farmer’s market at 52 Gansevoort Street. It has completed demolition, prepared the site and is now looking for an operator to run the market. William Gottlieb’s Real Estate company has played a big and controversial role in the gentrification of the Meatpacking District. Headed by Irving Bender, they own roughly 100 buildings throughout Greenwich Village and the Meatpacking District. The company has renovated and modernized someof the older buildings in the neighborhood dating back to the mid 1800s including the 1847 Greek Revival-style row house and its neighboring 1870s-era property located at 9-11 Ninth Avenue and 406 West 13th Street.
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The hotels in the area include The Standard and Gansevoort hotels and the exclusive Soho House. When areas like this are gentrified there is generally just a pushing out of those who cannot afford to live there any longer and they are forced to find cheaper housing somewhere else in the city, generally in projects. Many say it is still in the early stage of gentrification because there are still a lot of vacant areas that aren’t being used, so who knows what is actually to come.
