The Lower East Side: Now Cheaper Than Bushwick?
Just weeks after wonderfully scummy Lower East Side stalwart Welcome to the Johnson’s opened up a sleek outpost for high-end cocktails in Bushwick, some more odd crossover news from the two unaffordable neighborhoods: the retail shop for clothing line Mandate of Heaven, having recently been priced out of Bushwick, has reportedly found a new space on Essex St. for less than $2,000 a month.
“It is illustrative of what has been going on in Brooklyn,” the line’s designer told DNAinfo. “The property value has been changing so quickly and we have been pushed out every few years.” Prior to setting up shop in Bushwick, the store had also been priced out of a former location in Wiliamsburg.
Realtors confirmed to the site that while there are deals to be found in both neighborhoods (just like anywhere else), there actually is a surprising amount of cheap retail space on the Lower East Side once you get south of Delancey, some of it going for as little as $50 per square foot.
This is all probably all worth taking on a case-by-case basis—even with its hugely inflated prices, Bushwick is still on average much cheaper than the LES—but also solid evidence that this whole hyper-charged real estate cycle is starting to eat its own tail.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.