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Living In

Hudson Square: A Manhattan Bargain, and Quiet, Too

Through the years, Hudson Square has been a place to print books, broadcast radio shows and wobble through pub crawls, not to mention to slam steering wheels in frustration at backups in the Holland Tunnel.

But to live? Yes, that too, say residents of the enclave, who praise its quiet streets, old industrial hulks and affordability, at least relative to other parts of Manhattan.

“It’s a little hidden jewel,” said Michael El Hadj, 43, who lives with his wife, three children and a Belgian Malinois in a four-bedroom condo. Their apartment, which cost $2.8 million in 2007, is on Spring Street, a night life destination that once drew people from around the city. Mr. El Hadj recalled venturing downtown in the late 1990s, from his one-bedroom co-op on the Upper East Side, to see concerts at Don Hill’s, a club at the corner of Spring and Greenwich Streets.

But just as Don Hill’s closed, in 2011, other bars near it have also shut down, meaning less broken glass on the sidewalks on Saturday mornings, said Mr. El Hadj, who works in finance. “As a middle-aged man with a family,” he said, “it’s been nice to see the seedier side of that aspect put to bed.”

Parks, hotels and restaurants have also appeared, putting more of a residential stamp on the area, though, like a car ride over one of the Belgian-block streets, the makeover has been bumpy.

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330 SPRING STREET, #3A A two-bedroom, two-bath condo with a home office in a doorman elevator building with a gym, listed at $2,885,000. 917-586-6434Credit...Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

“There’s been a lot of fighting to keep it quiet” — namely, to limit new bars — said Victoria Faust, 72, an artist who bought a three-bedroom, two-bath, full-floor spread in 1981, for $125,000. With its unobstructed views of the Hudson River, the apartment would very likely sell for more than $5 million today, based on transactions in the building, a converted co-op that still has a loading dock.

Some battles have fizzled, like the communitywide resistance to the massive sanitation garage that looms at Spring and Washington Streets. But there have been triumphs as well, Ms. Faust said, like getting the city to remove garbage trucks from a triangular plot on Canal Street and rebuild it as leafy Canal Park.

The 20-block rezoning done in 2013 is also altering the streetscape by allowing more apartments. “The change here has been intense,” Ms. Faust said.

Buyers don’t seem put off, as Hudson Square is something of a bargain in Lower Manhattan, said James Heptinstall, 38, who considered TriBeCa, where he is currently renting, before settling on a one-bedroom at 70 Charlton Street, a new co-op from Extell Development Company with a saltwater pool. His 850-square-foot unit, to be completed this spring, cost $1.57 million, he said, “and I think the value has already gone up.”

What You’ll Find

Named for a small neighborhood in what is now TriBeCa, Hudson Square is framed by Canal, West Houston Street, the West Side Highway and Avenue of the Americas. Tiny, at about a tenth of a square mile, the district has grown slowly. In 1970, 1,965 people called it home, according to Census Bureau records. By 2010, it had 2,447 residents.

Amid a mix of Federal townhouses, former tenements and brick factories (some of them co-ops), there are modern condos like 497 Greenwich Street and 15 Renwick, soon to be joined by 565 Broome Street, a 115-unit complex designed by Renzo Piano for Bizzi & Partners Development, Aronov Development and Halpern Real Estate Ventures.

Controversy has dogged the redevelopment of St. John’s Terminal, a former warehouse complex that was the original stopping point of the High Line. Under a deal hashed out with the city this winter, Westbrook Partners and Atlas Capital Group were given the go-ahead to create offices, stores, a hotel and 1,500 apartments in what could be soaring towers.

As for rentals, Related Companies is completing a 14-story building at 261 Hudson Street by Robert A.M. Stern, with 160 market-rate and 41 affordable units.

What You’ll Pay

Inventory is limited. On Jan. 10, 38 co-ops and condos were for sale, according to a search on the New York Times website. The least expensive was a south-facing studio on the 29th floor of Trump SoHo for $775,000; the most expensive was a four-bedroom duplex at 565 Broome for $14 million. In 2014, 54 co-ops and condos sold at an average of $2.27 million, according to the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, while two years later, in 2016, 49 sold at an average of $2.58 million, a 14 percent increase.

Money seems to go further here than in surrounding areas. On Jan. 12, the average price of a one-bedroom in nearby TriBeCa was $4.12 million, according to StreetEasy, while in Hudson Square, one-bedrooms averaged $1.76 million. One-bedroom rentals, however, varied widely in price, according to StreetEasy, from about $2,500 a month to $7,000.

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255 HUDSON STREET, #6E A one-bedroom condo with an open kitchen in a doorman building with a roof deck, listed at $1,895,000. 917-770-4953Credit...Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

The Vibe

A decade ago, printing presses started giving way to media companies like the public radio station WNYC, at 160 Varick Street. During the week, when workers flock to the delis for lunch, Hudson Square can feel like a business district. But a $27 million effort by the eight-year-old Hudson Square Business Improvement District is trying to soften the industrial edges by planting trees and installing benches.

Places to buy groceries are still scarce, a common complaint. An old favorite restaurant is the Ear Inn, while a popular newcomer is Houseman, known for its chicken. Fans of vintage recipes can visit Joanne Hendricks, Cookbooks in a well-kept 19th-century brick house where Ms. Hendricks and her husband, Jon, have lived since 1975.

The Schools

There are no public schools, but one with 440 seats is planned as part of the rezoning. Currently, students head out of the area to Public School 3 in the West Village, which serves children from prekindergarten through the fifth grade. On state exams in the 2015-16 school year, 74 percent of students met standards in English, versus 39 percent citywide; in math, 78 percent met standards, versus 40 percent citywide.

The zoned middle school is Simon Baruch, on East 21st Street, where 61 percent of students met standards in English during the 2015-16 school year, versus 37 percent citywide, and 64 percent did in math, versus 32 percent citywide.

The Commute

The 1 train runs along Varick with stops at Houston and Canal. On Avenue of the Americas, the C and E trains stop at Spring, and the A, C and E stop at Canal. Buses include the M20 and M5, which run to Midtown, and the M21, which crosses town to the East Village.

The History

In 1945, Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas, and tributes were added: in Hudson Square, statues of General José Artigas and Juan Pablo Duarte, revolutionary heroes from Uruguay and the Dominican Republic; a medallion hanging from a lamppost near King Street honors Cuba.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section RE, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Industrial, Quiet and Relatively Affordable. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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