Living In: Sutton Place, Cozy Enclave by the East River

 441 EAST 57TH STREET, #1 A six-story four-bedroom six-bath condo with private garden, listed at $10,950,000. (212) 605-9217 [Hilary Landis, Corcoran Group] Credit Edwin J. Torres for The New York Times 

The cozy, affluent enclave of Sutton Place and its extension, Sutton Place South, has many longtime residents, but it is starting to attract younger people, too.

“I see a lot of baby carriages and a lot of wheelchairs,” said Jacqueline Stuchin-Paprin, who moved to an apartment with a river view at Sutton Place and 59th Street some 30 years ago, soon after marrying Maurice Paprin, a builder and social activist, who died in 2005. They had both been living in suburbia — he in Great Neck, N.Y., and she in New Rochelle, N.Y. — and found that the open vista made them “feel we were still in the suburbs,” she said.

The drive to Ms. Stuchin-Paprin’s job as a professor and chairwoman of the Department of Special Educational Services at Bronx Community College, where she is now a professor emerita, was only 15 to 20 minutes, she said. Now that she is alone, her view has made staying in during snowy weather more pleasant, she said. “For me, this area is ideal.”

The neighborhood, which runs from 53rd to 59th Streets between First Avenue and the East River, has also turned out to be ideal for Zain Hasan, a 26-year-old who works in marketing for American Express. After what he called a “nomadic” existence, in April 2013 he moved to a large rent-stabilized studio on East 58th Street, for which he pays $1,850 a month. The neighborhood “gives me a sense of stability,” he said. “It’s not as vibrant as other neighborhoods, but for me they can get a little overbearing.” His friends from trendier areas like to visit, he said, because they find his place “homey.”

He has found friends locally among older and younger people, he said, and hangs out with both — at a pub called Neary’s on 57th Street that draws a more mature crowd and at the Sin Bin, a sports bar at 1074 First Avenue, near 58th Street and his apartment. Two doors from the Sin Bin, he added, is Cafe Joul, an upscale French bistro. “It’s an interesting mix,” he said.

A shift in the median age grew more pronounced about a dozen years ago, said Josselyne Herman-Saccio, until recently the president of Sutton Area Community, a civic group, though much of it has taken place west of First Avenue, where there is more new construction and where she lives, too. Now there are more organic food stores and similar businesses catering to a younger crowd. Many families, she said, are drawn by the well-regarded elementary school, Public School 59, she said.

Ms. Herman-Saccio, a personal manager for people in the entertainment industry, and her husband, Michael Saccio, a property master for films and TV, came 18 years ago because they found a bargain apartment — a one-bedroom one-bath on East 56th Street for $175,000 (expanded since then). They had one child then, not yet a year old, and now have two others, the youngest still in the fourth grade.

Kelly and Scott Fink arrived about 10 years ago when they took over his parents’ apartment on East 52nd Street, also just outside the neighborhood’s boundaries. They now have 6-year-old twin girls, who attend P.S. 59, play in local parks and take music lessons nearby. “When we walk down the street, all the shopkeepers know us,” said Ms. Fink, a broadcast TV editor. “Even in this very big city, you feel you’re in this little community.”

What You’ll Find

Sutton Place begins at the northeast corner of East 57th Street with 1 Sutton Place, an elegant townhouse abutting the residence of the Secretary General of the United Nations, currently Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, at 3 Sutton Place. No. 3 was built in the 1920s for Anne Morgan, the daughter of J.P. Morgan. The numbering goes north to East 59th Street.

On the southeast side of East 57th, a stately block-long building at 1 Sutton Place South is a 1927 co-op designed by Rosario Candela with Cross & Cross as the architect/builder. Two Sutton Place South, across the street, was designed by Emery Roth and built in 1938. The numbering of Sutton Place South continues south to 53rd Street.

On the neighborhood’s eastern side, the cross streets end in cul-de-sacs, most with a park. Once called “Five Parks,” these spots are now collectively named Sutton Place Park, though they don’t connect. That will partly change soon when the green spots at East 57th and East 56th are joined by shaving off part of the backyard of 1 Sutton Place South for public use. Construction should start early next year, with completion expected in 2017, said Mark Thompson, chairman of the Community Board 6 parks committee.

Unlike the other cross streets, East 58th Street changes its name east of Sutton Place. It becomes Sutton Square, a short block that leads to Riverview Terrace, a private cobblestone street lined by six townhouses.

East 59th Street, which faces the approach to the bridge, looks very different, with a tennis bubble and commercial space below the bridge facing a mix of large and small apartment buildings. First Avenue, with a smattering of low-rise older buildings among high-rises, is lined with restaurants and quaint shops.

What You’ll Pay

According to data compiled by Gail Haft, an agent with Fenwick Keats Real Estate, prices have generally gone up in the last year, while the number of apartments sold went down, which Ms. Haft said was not significant, since the area is small, with little turnover.

Studios were the only category with increased volume but lower prices; 19 sold in 2014 at an average of $406,000, compared with 17 sold at an average of $415,000 in 2013, a 2 percent decrease. One-bedrooms increased nearly 6 percent, to $744,031 in 2014 (with 41 sold) from an average $704,262 in 2013 (with 88 sold). Two-bedrooms increased almost 11 percent, Ms. Haft said, to $1,519,010 (48 sold) from $1,373,805 (59 sold). Among three-bedrooms, the increase was less than 1 percent, with an average of $2,712,692 in 2014 (10 sold) compared with $2,693,704 in 2013 (16 sold).

 

Among the roughly 100 apartments on Trulia.com in late February were a studio co-op at 430 East 56th Street for $359,000 and a four-bedroom duplex co-op at 4 Sutton Place for $18 million.

Rentals listed on March 1 on StreetEasy.com included a five-bedroom in a co-op at 435 East 58th Street for $35,000 a month and a three-bedroom in a rental building at 420 East 54th Street for $24,075. In a far lower price bracket, a two-bedroom in a rental building at 426 East 58th Street was $2,850 and a one-bedroom in a condo at 40 Sutton Place was $2,700.

What to Do

Eating out at restaurants along First and Second Avenues is a favorite pastime. Bloomingdale’s and many other stores are nearby. Recreation Center 54, the local public sports center, has facilities including a pool, a gym and an indoor track. Sutton Area Community hosts events like an Easter egg hunt and a “Taste of Sutton” food fest.

The Schools

P.S. 59 Beekman Hill International, on East 56th Street, has about 590 students in kindergarten through fifth grade and special education. On 2013-14 state tests, 70 percent of students met standards in English, versus 30 percent citywide, according to its Elementary School Quality Snapshot. In math, 83 percent met standards, versus 39 percent citywide. The school is in the same building as the High School of Art and Design.

The Commute

Residents who work in Midtown East or at the United Nations, as many do, can walk to work. The M31 and M57 buses travel crosstown on 57th Street. The M15 bus travels up First Avenue and down Second. The 4, 5, 6, N, Q, R, E and M lines are available from stops at Lexington Avenue, with some entrances on Third Avenue.

The History

Effingham B. Sutton, a shipping merchant and entrepreneur, built brownstones between 57th and 58th Streets in 1875, according to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation website. Several years later, the area became the turf of street gangs known as the Dead End Kids. The arrival of Vanderbilts, Morgans and other wealthy families in the 1920s turned the neighborhood around.

Copyright © 2015 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission. Edwin J. Torres/The New York Times. 

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