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Adriana Stefanatos didn’t know how long she’d stay in New York — Three weeks? Three months? — when she moved from Australia. Five years later, she feels like she’s finally made it her own.
Unenthusiastic about early 20s life in Sydney, Ms. Stefanatos decided to give New York a try using a J-1 visa — which allows citizens of other countries to visit the United States to temporarily work in their field of study — and left the rest to fate. “I didn’t really know anyone at all my age in New York, so I thought, yeah, I’ll just see what can happen,” said Ms. Stefanatos, now a senior program manager with Amazon Web Services.
After living with family friends in Chelsea for a couple of months, she moved into a Lower East Side sublet until, thanks to a friend from Australia, she finally found a permanent living situation in a SoHo loft with three other roommates. She lived there for four years, but eventually knew that the end was imminent. The loft, in a cast iron building, was “falling to bits and needed a lot of work,” she said.
The problems were many: a leak in the bathroom ceiling, construction on the roof and the upstairs apartment at all hours of the day and night, a leaking air-conditioning unit and bits of brick falling off the brickwork.
“In typical New York fashion, our landlord was not particularly attentive,” Ms. Stefanatos said.
Their landlord did warn them, however, that eventually he’d renovate the loft and, when he did, they’d need to move out. “Summer of last year, he called me and he told me, ‘Hey, we’ve got the permits approved, we’re going to do the work. So here’s your three months’ notice,’” Ms. Stefanatos said.
Though she was sad to leave the loft behind, the move presented an upside: Ms. Stefanatos could finally live on her own. Again, she left it to fate. “It was funny because I feel like my attitude to New York is, you put out what you get in,” Ms. Stefanatos said. “If I have an issue, I’m going to tell everyone about it because they might have a solution.”
She knew she wanted a one-bedroom or a studio and that it had it to be downtown — and she told everyone she knew in hopes of avoiding StreetEasy, which made her anxious. It just so happened that a former client-turned-friend knew someone renting out their Chelsea studio and a connection was made.
$2,200 | Chelsea
Adriana Stefanatos, 28
Occupation: Senior program manager with Amazon Web Services
On staying downtown: Living downtown was paramount for Ms. Stefanatos who had spent most of her time in New York renting in SoHo. “Two of my closest friends live on the same street as me, so it’s a big plus,” she said.
On finally living alone: After sharing a loft with three other roommates she was ready to try living on her own. Living in New York is busy, Ms. Stefanatos said, and there’s so much going on. “I’m in a job where I’m speaking to people a lot,” Ms. Stefanatos said. “So it’s really nice to have that sense of self, that sense of space on my own.”
Upon visiting the studio, located on the ground floor of a brownstone, and meeting the landlord, it felt like kismet. “I didn’t look at anything else,” Ms. Stefanatos said. “I just had a really good feeling about it.” She was charmed by the studio’s architectural details, which included pillars, built-in bookshelves and a desk, as well as a bay window overlooking the street.
Finding the apartment was easy, but then came the co-op board approval process. “That was a bit of a pain to be completely honest,” Ms. Stefanatos said. On top of the usual credit check and financial documentation, the co-op board also requested five reference letters — and then called a few of the references.
“If anything, I didn’t realize how extensive the co-op process is, even for a tenant,” she said. “It felt personal, but I know it’s not. They just want to make sure someone will pay the rent on time and be a good a neighbor.”
Still, sharing financial documents made Ms. Stefanatos the most nervous. She had only been in the United States for five years without much of a credit history and no guarantors to back her up. “It felt bizarre to share every piece of financial information with relative strangers to sign a lease,” she added.
Within a couple of weeks, however, everything was approved and she moved into the studio in October.
It didn’t take long for Ms. Stefanatos to embrace living on her own. “It’s my little dollhouse,” she said of the studio, which she promptly decorated in pink, from the wall art to the area rug. Books and knickknacks now line the built-in shelves.
The studio has a Murphy bed, and the rest of the furniture was sourced secondhand from antique stores or through dealers on social media. “I’ve kind of, over the years, collected a few pieces that I love. So that’s quite colorful,” Ms. Stefanatos said. She also hung up a lot of artwork that she’s collected over the years.
The neighborhood itself is quiet and residential, and she appreciates the easy access to the West Side Highway for waterside walks.
Most important, though, is the feeling of home she’s found. It starts with the crown molding in the studio, a detail that nods to the building’s history. “It just makes me feel a little bit more connected to the sense of place. Especially, I think as an outsider living in New York, it feels like I’ve landed and I’m here,” Ms. Stefanatos said.
She’s bonded with the neighbors: Lefty and Sweet Pea, two cats that live across the hall. In the evening, Ms. Stefanatos and her neighbor leave their doors open so the cats stop by for an hour or so to explore her apartment.
Ms. Stefanatos wasn’t a cat person until she met Lefty and Sweet Pea (she grew up with pet chickens in Australia), but she loves them and they’re learning to love her, too. “I think that’s another nice thing that adds to the sense of homeliness and neighborhood-y feel that my building has,” she said.
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