Anyone have insight/thoughts on Alphabet City? (apartment, rent)

[Mojo Riley]

Hi all- my partner and I are moving to NY at the start of August, and found a 1-bd last month in Alphabet City (240 East 2nd St to be precise, so it appears we're sort of on the border).

The rent seemed awfully low for a 1-bd ($1650) and even though I love the apartment and the street seemed perfectly safe to me, I'm now a little worried since reading about the "wildings" in that neighborhood in recent months. We're coming from Chicago, I've lived in my share of shady neighborhoods, and although the area didn't set off any alarm bells for me when we were there, now I'm a little concerned because the sheer randomness of that kind of attack makes street smarts irrelevant.

Anyone have any insight into what exactly is going on around there? Any other thoughts or tips on the neighborhood would be greatly appreciated as well.

[ShayLove]

I used to plant in that garden right next to it for school projects. I know a member of the community board. She says lots of the tenants from the "Ave" complain about too much bars in the area. Which will then fall into the category of lots of drunk folks making a ruckus, peeing in front of your building and other things. Crime is not that big of a deal. (Depends on what u define as high crime). The area is very diverse. My son goes to a great school in the area. Supermarket, and transportation is very convenient there. And my favorite hang out (Sing-Sing Karaoke) is there!

[Mojo Riley]

Originally Posted by ShayLove

I used to plant in that garden right next to it for school projects. I know a member of the community board. She says lots of the tenants from the "Ave" complain about too much bars in the area. Which will then fall into the category of lots of drunk folks making a ruckus, peeing in front of your building and other things. Crime is not that big of a deal. (Depends on what u define as high crime). The area is very diverse. My son goes to a great school in the area. Supermarket, and transportation is very convenient there. And my favorite hang out (Sing-Sing Karaoke) is there!

Thanks for the response! I love that garden next door, and it was one of the things that made me fall in love with the apartment. I figured as much regarding the drunks, but it was so convenient for my BF (who will be doing an LLM at NYU) that we figured it would be fine for a year. It's good to hear that you don't think crime is too much of a problem. I will definitely be checking out the Sing-Song!