The Curbed Cup, our annual award for the New York City neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 16 areas vying for the prestigious (fake) trophy. This week we'll have two matchups per day, and all the results and the full tournament bracket will be reviewed on Friday. Voting for each pairing ends 24 hours after it begins. Let the eliminations commence!
Though it's a neighborhood that didn't really exist a decade ago, West Chelsea earned the top seed in this year's pool for two main reasons: its ridiculous number of development projects (mapped) as well as the universally acclaimed third phase of the High Line, which opened in September. In addition to buildings in the pipeline, like Zaha Hadid's curvaceous condos and Soo Chan's sleek apartments with private pools, several opened this year, including Robert A.M. Stern's 312-rental tower, where superbroker Luis Ortiz lives. Also, construction on the new Whitney (designed by Renzo Piano) is finishing up, with an opening date set for spring.
At the other end of the spectrum lies the Bronx's City Island. It's a quaint little nautical enclave with Victorian mansions, bungalows, and seafood restaurants. Historically seen as a place with a lot of old-timers and day-trippers, the slightly rundown area is about to get its first new real estate in 15 yearsa development called On the Sound. And there are more residential projects on the way. In fact, community leaders are actively looking to artists and developers to help boost the local economy, which all means that City Island won't be quite so sleepy anymore. And hey, islands in general have historically been Curbed Cup underdogs that perform well.
So, which neighborhood deserves to move on to the next round?
· West Chelsea coverage [Curbed]
· City Island coverage [Curbed]
· All Curbed Cup 2014 coverage [Curbed]