Welcome to the Flatiron District, a neighborhood that punches well above its weight. While it's not particularly large, it's an extremely well-known and frequented place for all New Yorkers. Like all New York neighborhoods, there are no official boundaries so I can't verify this, but I feel like Flatiron has grown over the last 5 to 10 years expanding north of 23rd Street. If you go on a real estate website today, you'll see it stretches all the way up to around 30th Street. I think we can thank developers for that. There have been some mega projects like Madison House on and around 30th Street, and Flatiron sounds a lot more marketable than Midtown South. Along with that NoMad, short for north of Madison Square, is now a subset of Flatiron. The neighborhood centerpiece is Madison Square Park located at 23rd and 5th. Whether you come here for the dog parks, art installations, or original Shake Shack. Everyone has their reason. Just south of the park is Flatiron's best known building: the Flatiron building, also one of the city's best known buildings. The neighborhood is named after the building, not the other way around. Because of the way Broadway cuts across Manhattan. It's built on a narrow wedge of a plot, hence the name. There's been a lot of drama over the building this year. It went up for auction in March, but the previously unknown winning bidder failed to put down the deposit, so it went back to auction. Just this week it was announced that the building will be converted into condos. Further south, the neighborhood's other anchor is Union Square. With the fourth busiest subway station in the city, with eight lines, including the L, you can get pretty much anywhere with just one transfer. There you'll also find arguably the best farmers market in the city, where 4 days a week you'll find up to 140 Farmers selling everything from fruits and vegetables to maple syrup. The neighborhood signature prepared food destination is the original Eataly, at 23rd and 5th, which opened in 2010. Some sources say it's 40,000 ft², others 50,000, but either way it's massive, basically an indoors Little Italy with both restaurants and groceries.Flatiron is a good option for shopping if you want to avoid the chaos of Soho and the prices of Fifth Avenue- well, I should specify a different part of Fifth Avenue. All the luxury and designer shops are located on Fifth Avenue in the 50s, but between 23rd and 14th you'll find more normal shops like Nike, Sephora, and Jcrew. And as for apartments here, it's one of the few areas outside of Soho and Tribeca where you'll find true lofts - high ceilings, big windows, open floor plans. There's also been a fair amount of new development, and not just recently. One Madison went up about 15 years ago and it's still a star of the skyline, and 7 years later, 45 East 22nd Street went up just a few doors down. The new kid on the block is Flatiron House, stretching from 23rd to 24th Street, between 5th and 6th. I helped someone buy a one bedroom there earlier this year and its finishes are top notch. Not everything in the neighborhood is fancy. We're constantly in a collection of co-ops around 14th and 5th that offer some of the best values in the city. I'm talking about 10 West 15th Street, 16 West 16th Street, 69 Fifth Avenue, and 7 East 14th Street. All of these are affordable, well-run, and convenient options. Now, if you're looking for an apartment in the area, and would like some help, not only do I know a thing or two about the neighborhood, but all my buyers receive a commission rebate for up to 2%. If you're already here, but considering selling, my sellers save up to 4% as well. So reach out to me at james@yoreevo.com and I'm happy to discuss in more detail.