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The area from 23rd Street/Madison Square Park to 34th Street bounded by Park Avenue South on the east and Sixth Avenue to the west was once totally commercial. You had a few loft conversions, apartments (mostly in what remains of old brownstone/townhouses but some full purpose buildings), but other than that it was offices, shops, and so forth.
Know this; there is NOTHING over there in terms of supermarkets and other amenities. You have some small deli and other food shops but don't think there is a supermarket anywhere near. There is a Whole Foods down on Seventh Avenue and probably something going east towards Lexington or Third Avenues.
Madison Square Park which once was a crime infested dump has been cleaned up and is now where those with children go. Other than that you certainly won't be allowing your kids to play on the streets if for nothing else due to the large amounts of commercial traffic.
There are plenty of hotels from Park Avenue South to Sixth Avenue in that area with more coming. Most have bars/clubs so that brings a certain party element to the area at night. But mostly it is dead, quite dead as late evening turns into overnight. I can and have walked around there during the wee hours but having been born and raised here always have my guard "up" so to speak.
Parts of midtown Manhattan can seems kind of spooky at three in the morning because they are largely commercial areas and there aren't a lot of people around. Still, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I never had a problem, and I used to walk all over the place late at night.
My sister used to live in that area but on Park Avenue. It's fine. There are all kinds of places to eat, Broadway theaters are in walking distance if that's your thing. Madison square and the Flatiron district are just down the street, so that'll be a nice change from the Madison Avenue canyon. You can hop on a bus and go up to Central Park (starts at 59th). The only drawback I can see is traffic noise and crowded sidewalks most of the day, but I guess part of the noise will depend on how your apartment is situated. You'll never be able to block it all out. It's a pretty good location to spend 5 months in NYC. Just don't bring a car.
To think late as the 1970's through a good part of the 1990's that area was so bad the City put a huge homeless shelter a few blocks up from Madison Square Park.
Small world, I worked in that building for 6 miserable months in 2012.
There really wasn't much in the area, but that may have changed as I think a few hotels have opened up. Safe but a little desolate at night.
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