New Yorkers decide to move to new cities since Sept. 11 attacks

December 3, 2001 Posted: 11:58 AM EST (1658 GMT)

NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) -- Phillip and Donna Kahan liked living on Manhattan's Upper West Side, but had considered moving to New Jersey for better schools for their children, ages 41/2 and 2.

The World Trade Center attacks settled the debate for the family, who already owned a business in New Jersey.

"September 11th pushed her way over the edge," Phillip Kahan said of his wife. "She couldn't handle being at work in New Jersey, when there are bridges and tunnels to deal with, and the children are at school in New York,"

So the Kahans sold their apartment and are moving in February to a house in Demarest, about eight miles from upper Manhattan. And they're not alone.

The New Yorkers are moving out of the city and into the suburbs.

Some have moved, some are looking, and some of the wealthy who already owned summer homes outside the city have moved to them full-time.

It is too early for exact figures on any post-attack exodus to suburbs in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Westchester County and Long Island in New York, which have long been destinations for New Yorkers seeking cheaper housing or more space.

Officials said the numbers may surface in 2002 income tax filings, or in Census population estimates, both of which will not be available until 2003.

Evan and Marla Lerner are committed to leaving. They and their two daughters are among the 4,000 residents who were displaced from the Gateway Plaza section of Battery Park City after the attacks. One of the buildings in the complex still has not reopened, leaving about 1,000 people without homes.

"It was great, until someone decided to bomb our front lawn, so to speak," Marla Lerner said. "Our building was declared a crime scene. There were body parts. There were airplane parts. They were looking for the black box in our building."

The couple, who had lived in Manhattan for 20 years, had been considering hopping across the Hudson River and into New Jersey for schooling their daughters (4 years and 22 months). September 11 "really helped us focus, and crystallize, on the decision to go to Jersey," said Lerner, 41.

Pat Eager, another Gateway refugee, was adamant about staying in New York City after the attacks. But the equity researcher changed her mind after finding an apartment in Hoboken, just a short bus, ferry or train trip from Manhattan.

"Downtown was wonderful. But it's not going to be wonderful for a long time," she said.

A Jersey-bound trend is clear to Applied Development, which has 5,000 rental units, including the new 526-unit building where Eager moved.

That building began renting just before Labor Day. With about 200 units rented, some 15 percent of the tenants are from Manhattan, about twice the normal rate for their buildings, said Michael Barry, a principal in Applied Development.

Connecticut hasn't seen many New Yorkers moving in yet, but may get some.

"All of us are working with clients that have been affected in some way," said Russell Pruner, who owns a real estate company in Greenwich, Connecticut. "We are clearly seeing people who are coming out from New York who are considering living here."

A large New York real estate broker reported a short-lived spurt after the attacks.

"We got a lot of apartments on the market, but some of them took them off and are staying," said Jeffrey Rothstein, executive vice president at Insignia Douglas Elliman, which also has offices in Connecticut, Long Island and New Jersey.

Another New Jersey house-hunter is Jeffrey Erber, 48, and his wife, Mami Ogawa, 35, an accountant, who were allowed back into their Gateway apartment in October. They were confronted with daily exposure to the illuminated cranes, and the memorials with teddy bears and pictures.

"It brings me to tears every night. It's a hard place to live now," said Erber, a native New Yorker who runs an eyeglass store on the Upper West Side.

"We had been thinking of moving out a while ago, but you kind of get stuck where you are. So this will be a very good catalyst to help us make the move," Erber said.

Other New Yorkers have sought solace at their second homes. The Cardelfe family left Battery Park City after the attacks and moved full-time to their weekend home in the oceanside town of Spring Lake.

Their daughter Anna Cardelfe, 6, was kidnapped from the front yard on Nov. 8 and held for ransom. She was returned unharmed the next day at a nearby mall without payment, authorities said. A Monmouth County man was charged with kidnapping.

The Lerner family, which was displaced from lower Manhattan, hopes to soon make the move to New Jersey. They expect to close this month on a four-bedroom colonial home on nearly an acre in central New Jersey.

"Both of us are going to feel much, much safer once we're across the river," she said. "We're all coming out there. New Jersey better get ready. A good portion of Battery Park City is moving there."

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2001