Real Estate on Roosevelt Island

One of the greatest things about being a New York City real estate agent is the opportunity that we get to explore the city and travel to different neighborhoods. Even though I’ve specialized in being a Bushwick real estate agent for almost a decade – I still enjoy taking the occasional adventure to see what real estate opportunities exist in other parts of the city.

I’ve lived in New York City for the last twelve and a half years, and Roosevelt Island, the thin piece of land on the East River between the Upper East Side and Astoria, Queens, has always been a bit of a mystery to me. 

I did travel to the southern part of the island one time to play a softball game in 2013 – but I didn’t really explore it then or learn much about it after the game. 

I got a good sense about Roosevelt Island last December, when I was working on renting a commercial space in Astoria. I’m a New York City real estate agent that focus in both sales and leasing – both apartment and commercial leasing. This specific commercial listing was solid – about 500 square feet, clean, and freshly painted, and it came with a decent-sized basement for storage. The price was good (read: we had listed it at the market value) – $2000/month. I was getting calls on the property. People wanted to view it.  

The space wasn’t in prime Astoria – it was a bit off the beaten path, close to the East River, and not close to any train lines. At the time, I was living in Williamsburg, and since this listing was tucked away from public transit, the most efficient way for me to commute there was to ride an electric Citi Bike over the Pulaski Bridge from Greenpoint, then head up Vernon Avenue to the space. It was a nice ride.

It was a quiet, cold, early afternoon when I was summoned to go show the listing for the first time. On my way there, I biked right by the small car bridge leading onto Roosevelt Island.

The end of any calendar year is a nice time to be a real estate agent. It’s quiet in terms of business activity – we make most of our income in the first ten months of the year, and since we’re 1099 contractors, we don’t necessarily have to work if we’re feeling like we’ve had a good year. Generally, I find this as a great time to relax (a little bit), before ramping back up in January (hustling is a requirement in this industry – our earnings are all commission based). 

Anyway, that December day, after I showed the not-prime but very rentable commercial space in Astoria, I decided to walk onto Roosevelt Island and see what this possibly-overlooked island had to offer.  

It took me twenty minutes to walk to the bridge. After crossing, I found myself on top of some sort of parking garage. Someone told me I should walk down the stairwell to the street, which I did. 

I found myself on “Main Street” Roosevelt Island. I then walked south, towards the tram line. There were taller brick buildings on either side of me with businesses at the bottom. There was not much foot traffic at all. It was sleepy, which was a nice change of pace from the usual hustle and bustle of NYC. 

What did I think of Roosevelt Island in those first few minutes? I mean, I thought it was cool. It was fun being able to see Queens on one side, and later, when I was leaving the island, being able to see the Manhattan Skyline from the other, Eastern side of the island. I liked how peaceful it felt. It was like I was in some alternate New York City world – except I was in the middle of the city. 

I didn’t do much that afternoon – I went to the public library and logged onto a desktop and worked on a blog post. After that, I went to Starbucks and had a coffee. Then I took the F train to Manhattan. (Side note: the train station was cool – it took several escalators to get to the subway platform. I later learned that this is one of the deepest subway stations in the entire transit system. You can read about it on Roosevelt Island MTA subway station Wikipedia page here).

I’ll probably never move to Roosevelt Island – but I like to romanticize about living in different places. 

Living there seems intriguing – like you could be living in a peaceful part of New York City while still being in the middle of it.

But after thinking about it more – I don’t know if I, personally, would like it. I think my biggest concern would be transit access. I’m not sure if relying on the F train seems great and having to take the tram from the Upper East Side seems like it could be a little bit of a headache (I could be wrong though). Also, while I sometimes complain about how busy and chaotic NYC is, I’m not sure I’d want to live in a secluded part of it.  

But this is just my perspective.  

Last week, when I started writing this post, I was on Facebook (yes, sometimes I still go on Facebook). There was a link presented to me front and center from the New York Post (I don’t know why it was from the NY Post – I don’t seek out the NY Post, I swear). 

Anyway, the article talked about how, recently, condo prices on Roosevelt Island are surging. It mentions that people enjoy living there because it has a ton of outdoor space and because it’s very quiet. Here’s the article.

Call me if you need to sell (or want to buy) on Roosevelt Island. It’d be a great reason to return to the island after my December 2024 excursion. And even though I’m not sure I’d live there, I can definitely see why someone would. As a New York City real estate agent, I can say that living anywhere in the city is a great decision.

Are you a property owner that wants to sell their condo, investment property or needs to rent an apartment or retail space in New York City? Call or text me: Sam Moritz, licensed real estate agent, 203–209–3640.

Do you know a property owner that might need real estate help? Refer me! I provide great and professional real estate services across all five boroughs.