NYC's new suburbia: More urban

New York

SOME suburbs around New York City are becoming decidedly less suburban, as new apartment buildings and condominium communities close to mass transit help expand the downtowns of these villages and towns. Multifamily housing is also popping up near highways and main thoroughfares.

Young professionals seeking more space than they can afford in Manhattan or Brooklyn, empty nesters looking to downsize and leave the snow shovelling to others and, to a lesser extent, millennials moving out of their parents' basements are leading the charge to a more urbanised suburbia.

The new developments are attracting people like Rima Chodha and Varun Thakral, who knew they would have to take baby steps when they made their move from the city to the suburbs. Leaving their one-bedroom apartment in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan was "an uneasy and frightenin…