A Flood Zone Real Estate Boom in Post-Sandy New York

According to an article by Kyle Chayka, "for all the talk of big changes to our waterside metropolis post-Sandy, the three years since then have been a Category 5 storm in terms of real-estate development."

Development in flood zones can be found all over the city, according to Chayka:

"Luxurious new buildings are popping up in flood zones all around the city precisely in the spots that Hurricane Sandy hit the hardest. And even vulnerable-seeming areas didn't see the expected slowdown. From the western edge of Chelsea and swaths of the Hudson Yards complex to the nautical-industrial streets of Red Hook, we’re building up in New York’s environmental weak spots — often the areas that were, long ago, swampland."

Chayka goes on to list a case-by-case set of examples of new developments located in flood zones—all of which fit the description of big New York money, whether the use is residential, entertainment, or office.

One point made in the article is that the city will soon build new infrastructure "like the Dry Line, a $335 million proposal to build a two-mile-long, 15-foot-high flood wall running along the Lower East Side, along with some knolls and landscaped parks." Unmentioned, however, but brought up by @MarketUrbanism on Twitter, is how each one of these buildings has designed its site and systems to repel the inevitable deluge.