new rochelle, N.Y.: a waterfront suburb with a socioeconomic mix
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By C.J. Hughes | Published December 9, 2020
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again,” wrote Thomas Paine, the political provocateur, in 1776.
More than two centuries later, some are taking that cry to heart — particularly when it comes to real estate. Prodded by the pandemic, New Yorkers are discovering New Rochelle, the waterfront city in Westchester County where Paine is buried, despite the area’s troubling wave of Covid-19 cases this year.
“I feel some sadness, because I love New York, and I want things to get better,” said Molly Rothschild, 31, a lawyer who left the Upper West Side in August and moved into a 1928 Dutch colonial in New Rochelle with her husband, Ethan Rothschild, 32, also a lawyer. “But I also feel grateful to have a bit of a respite.”
The coronavirus can’t take full credit for uprooting the couple. As with many other 2020 transplants, they were thinking about leaving the city before the pandemic. But if moving to the suburbs has always been part of the plan for many, the health crisis seems to have squeezed years’ of migration into just a few months, creating a surge in demand for housing. Indeed, the Rothschilds, who also looked in Montclair, N.J., said they were scared off by stories of homes selling there for $200,000 over asking price.
Competition was also fierce in New Rochelle, which attracts buyers with its parks and beaches, an ethnically mixed population of 79,000, and by being a mere 20 miles north of Times Square. The house the Rothschilds bought — which has three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms and a fireplace that is now working (after repairs), in the Beechmont neighborhood — received multiple bids before selling for $490,000, or $25,000 above the listing price.
“I thought we had to move on it because there wouldn’t be much left in a few months,” Ms. Rothschild said.
For others, relocating has been less about avoiding infection and more about escaping the city crowds and the tension that a life of social distancing can breed.
Sarah P. Cate, 41, a breast-cancer surgeon, said she got the evil eye from neighbors in the Riverdale section of the Bronx because her 6-year-old triplets attended in-person classes at their private school while the pandemic raged. “They thought my kids were bringing the virus into the building,” said Dr. Cate, who accelerated a planned move by a few years in September, snapping up a house in New Rochelle with her husband, Leonard Glickman, 38, a urologist. “Apartment living just became very difficult.”
The twin-gabled house, built in 1921 in the Forest Heights neighborhood, has five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms and intact crown molding. After a flurry of bids — three offers over four days, Dr. Cate said — the renovated property traded for $1.15 million. Its lawns cover about a half acre, larger than nearby yards, so breathing room is assured.
New Rochelle’s status as an escape from the pandemic may be surprising. In early March, after a lawyer there contracted Covid-19, becoming the state’s second documented case, officials detected a cluster of additional infections, prompting the establishment of a one-mile-diameter containment zone and the arrival of the National Guard. Early December has brought a new surge. New Rochelle currently has “yellow zone” status — meaning restrictions on restaurants, houses of worship and social gatherings — in a section near the first outbreak zone.
But while the new crisis will eventually fade, it has affected some residents’ perceptions of New Rochelle. “If you don’t have children and you left because of Covid, I could see why you might return to the city,” Dr. Cate said. “I have no regrets.”