What can you get for ten bucks? A t-shirt. A movie ticket. A drink in a swanky bar. But for a few lucky folks in New York City, they will be able to get an apartment. Yeah, you heard us correctly – people can move into an apartment for $10.
If you are familiar with the Big Apple, you might already know that Mars Bar, a famous East Village dive bar, has closed its doors and the building it occupied will be torn down. There are a couple of apartments above the bar and anyone living in the building now has the option to come back in two years, pay $10, and move in as owners.
The building that will fill the spot will hold 65 units and tower 12 floors. This is quite a steal for the neighborhood – the median sales price for a home is somewhere in the ballpark of $1.46 million. The average price per square foot is $1,117, which is lower than the average for the rest of Manhattan.
There’s no doubt about it, New York City is changing – but that has always been the case. Many people who moved there years ago don’t really even recognize the lower east side, which is now chock-full-of high rises and other shiny buildings.
Currently, 13 of the new building’s apartments will be considered affordable, and nine are already spoken for at the $10 price. Four will be sold off through a lottery system in the coming months at about $150,000. Wouldn’t you love to move into your new home for that price?
Jon Huser
