If you’ve been following Upland for a while or listening to their AMAs you’ll know that San Francisco is not the only city they want to offer. They have been pretty open about wanting to be worldwide. It’s no secret that they will be opening in NYC soon but they have also specifically mentioned Chicago, Paris and Berlin.
NYC and specifically Manhattan is slated to be released any day, now that we’re in Q3 of 2020. Airport terminals were opened up for sale in both SFO and JFK and are now sold out (more terminals will be made available at a later date). To get to NYC you’ll travel to a terminal in SFO, then select a terminal in JFK to fly to. After that your Explorer will roam around the JFK property like Tom Hanks, just waiting for papers to leave.
Update! We’ve been told that NYC will be opened up when San Francisco is 40% sold out. We are currently hovering around 37% with ~5200 properties left to purchase for the first time before NYC will be unlocked! Help us out!
Once they are allowed to leave, it’s not clear whether they will bumble through Queens and Brooklyn to get to the core of the Big Apple or whether they will be automagically transported to a random starting point. What I do know is that once the first Explorer purchases a property on Manhattan Island that all digital heck will break loose as everyone else visits the property to fan out towards other parts of town.
We have been told that only a portion of South Manhattan will be opened for exploration and purchase. No clue as to whether it is Lower Manhattan only or if it will include Midtown Manhattan as well. We also know that the properties won’t be as lucrative from a holdings view. Where we get 1.44% earnings per month on a property in San Francisco, it could only be 0.5% in NYC. But you know that some of these properties are going to be worth a whole lot more to the collector.
Lower Manhattan cuts off at 14th St. It’s the most historic section starting with the Dutch in the year 1624.
Midtown Manhattan runs to 59th St., right at the southern edge of Central Park. From my perspective I would consider that, short of Central park, these two portions encompass most of the well known NYC.
It has been stated that no collections will be available for NYC, at least not right away. What this means is that EVERYthing is up for speculation. Based on San Francisco, and as someone with only pop culture knowledge of NYC, here are my initial picks:
Broadway, hands down. Don’t get confused and buy on E. Broadway or W. Broadway. Nor Broad St. Just, Broadway. This would be similar to Mission St., a steady meandering road through the entire town.
5th Ave or Madison Ave, a little more exclusive similar to Market St.
Houston St. Short and fairly exclusive. Like Haight or Lombard.
Wall St.
Neighborhoods could be a total crapshoot, they’re all notable:
Lower East Side might be a nice affordable larger collection similar to Mission District. Properties might be around 3000–4000 UPX.
Greenwich Village, a little larger and a little more expensive but still Mission District-y. 5000–6000 UPX to start.
Soho and Little Italy are definitely smaller and more exclusive but maybe a little bit cheaper than Seacliff. 10k and up?
In later phases I can see Hell’s Kitchen at Russian Hill-esque prices, the Garment District like an even more expensive Nob Hill and Harlem as a reliable standby, similar to Sunset.
There are a ton of iconics in my mind from the Twin Tower sites to Bowling Green Park, the Tenement Museum, The Empire State Building, Gridiron Building, Times Square, etc, etc.
If you’re going to try to aim for key properties that could do double duty on future collections then Soho might be key. There are next to zero odd-numbered properties on Houston between 6th and Crosby but Broadway runs through from 400–699. Greenwich Village could also double up since it contains even Houston addresses between 200–598 and Broadway from 600–855 Broadway.
Remember, this is all speculation. I have no insider info. Do your own due diligence.
Good luck! Once Manhattan officially opens and you snag something, let me know what you got in the comments!
