Stuyvesant Town Apartments & Rentals

The 35 red brick towers of Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan hold 8,757 apartments. If you also count the rentals in the 21 neighboring buildings of Peter Cooper Village-its sister complex-you reach a total of 11,250 apartments. Taken together, this superblock claims from East 23rd Street to East 14th Street, from First Avenue to Avenue C. It holds over 25,000 people, and that's a lot of New Yorkers. It's a city within a city.

Stuy Town's name honors Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. The complex, built after World War II, replaced the Gas House district. Using eminent domain, developers razed homes, schools, churches, and businesses to make room for construction. When the first units opened in 1947, rents were as low as $50 a month. Things have changed. Since 2006, tenants and developers and lawyers have battled over the dramatically increasing cost of living in Stuyvesant Town.

Stuy Town residents appreciate the protected, peaceful nature of their community. Because no city streets cut through the complex, outer buildings shelter inner residents from noise and other metropolitan issues. A large central green, called the Oval, holds a fountain large enough to turn into an ice rink in winter. Astroturf fields, basketball courts, and playgrounds add to the village atmosphere.

The complex has a screening room and a fitness center, but you'll have to wander to find restaurants, bars, and shops. Union Square isn't far. You can walk or take a bus to the nearby Trader Joes, Whole Foods, or Food Emporium. Union Square also has stores like Barnes and Noble and Best Buy. Ethnic restaurants are found just south in the East Village. There as well, you can find bars, cinemas, theaters, and clubs.

Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartment residents are mostly successful white-collar families with children. It isn't a particularly racially diverse group. Economically, the population is also being nudged closer to luxury levels. Recently, rent-stabilized apartments have been warehoused and then renovated, allowing landlords to raise rents significantly. What was $50 a month in 1947 is now at least $2,900. That's for a one-bedroom that hasn't been remodeled. There are units as big as five-bedrooms here, but they aren't often available.

Transportation from Stuyvesant Town isn't fantastic. There's the L train on First Avenue and 14th Street and there are buses. This area will benefit when the Second Avenue subway opens.

Stuy Town is across the street from the Beth Israel Medical Center. It has its own public safety force and its own newspaper, the Town & Village, published weekly. There's a US Post Office on 14th Street and Avenue A.

The closest public library is on Tompkins Square Park, four blocks south. Manhattan Community Board No. 6 covers the area.

The zip code serving Stuyvesant Town is 10009.