Chelsea Apartments & Rentals

Apartment rentals in hip Chelsea cost a pretty penny and there are good reasons why. The neighborhood underwent a cultural explosion in the mid-1990s. At that time, art galleries moved to the area from SoHo in search of reasonable rents. Following came the artists and artisans. Now, Chelsea is one of New York's art centers. Its peak may be past, but residents here still support a bountiful range of services from the basic box store to the high-end boutique.

Chelsea stretches from 14th Street up to 30th Street, from the Avenue of the Americas to the Hudson River. It takes its name from that of the estate of a retired British Major, who named his 1750's home after a Chelsea, London manor. When the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 ran Ninth Avenue through the estate, the major's descendants developed the area into lots. In the mid-1800s, the riverside turned industrial. Large apartment blocks were erected in Chelsea in the 20th century, including London Terrace, one of the world's largest in 1930.

Chelsea excels when it comes to nightlife, food, and shopping. Ethnic restaurants abound. La Lunchonette offers reasonably priced French food, for example. El Quinto Pino serves up Spanish-style tapas. For a more casual atmosphere, try Chelsea Market, which is packed with gourmet food vendors. For nightlife, Chelsea swings from dive bars to exclusive clubs. It has calmed down from its heyday, but remains lively. A large gay community can be found at places like XES Lounge or Barracuda. To see old Chelsea combined with the new, seek out the Half King bar, which also serves food.

Chelsea has a wealth of alternative shopping options, including Barneys CO-OP, boutiques, and over 370 art galleries. There are plenty of everyday shops like groceries as well as big box stores. Entertainment options run from the Joyce Theater for dance, to the Atlantic Theater Company for drama, to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater for comedy. The Chelsea Piers complex has facilities for golf, bowling, basketball, and more. It sits alongside Hudson River Park, which is Manhattan's second largest. The High Line also cuts through Chelsea. This is an elevated section of railway track that's been transformed into parkland with a view!

Chelsea is primarily a residential neighborhood. You can find tenements, apartment blocks, townhouses, row houses, historic brownstones, and luxury rentals here. Rents tend to be expensive, but you get what you pay for. One-bedrooms start at around $2,300 and two-bedrooms at $3,500. A Chelsea two-bedroom with a doorman averages $6,245.

The community here is mixed, but you'll find a lot of creative and LGBT people in the area. It should take you less than 20 minutes to get to Midtown from Chelsea on public transportation.

Manhattan Community Boards 4 and 5 oversee the neighborhood. Its period architecture is protected as part of the Chelsea Historic District. Also of historic note, many make a pilgrimage to the Chelsea Hotel. This is where Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and other celebrities lived and, in some cases, died. The neighborhood has a branch of the New York Public Library on West 23rd Street and numerous public schools.

Zip codes serving Chelsea are 10001 and 10011.