American urban planner and theorist Kevin Lynch observed in 1960 that “as an artificial world, the city should be so in the best sense: made by art, shaped for human purposes.” This credo, advocating for cities to be artfully designed environments tailored to the needs of its residents, has taken on different forms in the years since, but a perennial truth is that substantial cultural investment is an essential element of urban life around the globe.
This notion is also backed by national statistics about the growing importance of culture on society. According to data released in March 2024 by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the economic impact of the arts and cultural industries in America, for example, “hit an all-time high in 2022, contributing 4.3% of GDP, or US$1.1 trillion, to the U.S. economy.”
The history of harnessing cultural resources in the service of community-building is long and rich. In major cities such as New York, “luxury residences have built up around cultural concepts such as public spaces, the arts, and restaurants,” according to Stan Ponte, senior global real estate advisor, Sotheby’s International Realty - East Side Manhattan Brokerage. For example, Manhattan apartments near the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, opened in the 1960s, remain in high demand, Ponte notes.
Likewise, the High Line, a once-abandoned elevated rail line in the Meatpacking District that was converted into a public park in 2006, studded with rotating sculptural installations by high-profile contemporary artists, “has resulted in one of the most sought-after neighborhoods, with residential prices reaching as high as US$6,000 per square foot in 2024,” Ponte says. In comparison, the average price per square foot in Manhattan in 2024 is US$1,500, according to Realtor.com. “When the High Line opened in 2009, the average condo price was US$1,596,279. In 2023, the average price stood at US$4,345,027,” Ponte adds.
The High Line soon attracted other cultural institutions, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, which moved into its Renzo Piano-designed building in 2015, and a flood of art galleries, restaurants and shops.
Mexico City
It sometimes feels impossible to open Instagram without spotting swoon-inducing images of lush, plant-filled living spaces outfitted with cutting-edge interior design and art in Mexico City. The country’s capital is clearly on a hot streak, infusing yet more verve into its already robust art and design scene.
The international clientele served by Mexico Sotheby’s International Realty agent Mirari García Alcocer are drawn to Polanco, as well as the hip hubs of Colonia Roma and La Condesa. “In Polanco you have shops, entertainment, theaters, and a lot of affluence,” she says. It’s near the city center but offers a breather from the intensity of Centro Histórico. García Alcocer points to the prestigious, leafy Polanco streets of Campos Eliseos and Rubén Darío as commanding the highest sales figures, ranging from US$836 to US$1,114 per square foot in 2024, given their proximity to Chapultepec Park, the National Museum of Anthropology and the Museo Tamayo of contemporary art.
Two attention-grabbing newer attractions—the Museo Soumaya, which houses billionaire Carlos Slim’s extensive collections of art and antiquities, and the Museo Jumex, a wide-ranging collection of contemporary art—are about 3km away in what has been dubbed Nuevo Polanco. With recent figures hovering at approximately US$275 per square foot in 2024, properties in this up-and-coming area don’t command as high a price just yet, and so pose appealing investment potential, García Alcocer says.
She believes these major cultural institutions have enhanced Mexico City’s appeal, as has the burgeoning art gallery cluster in San Miguel Chapultepec. “For some people, nearby cultural landmarks are a significant factor that can influence their choice of neighborhood or property. For others, they are viewed as desirable amenities within a wider urban ecosystem.”
Los Angeles
“For high-net-worth buyers, the world’s playground is in Los Angeles. Three hundred days a year we have beautiful weather,” says Marc Noah, real estate advisor, Sotheby’s International Realty - Beverly Hills Brokerage. In recent years, Los Angeles has also become a cultural metropolis, with the arrival of the Frieze art fair in 2019 boosting the development of the gallery scene.
A restoration of a 1920s iconic Mediterranean masterpiece originally built for the American golfer Clement E. Smoot, in Los Angeles, California.
Sotheby’s International Realty - Los Feliz Brokerage
Dallas
Covering 118 acres of downtown Dallas, the Dallas Arts District is the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation, according to the non-profit organization that manages its development. The district dates its foundation to 1984, when the Dallas Museum of Art opened its Edward Larrabee Barnes-designed building, and since then a number of significant cultural facilities have joined the neighborhood, including the AT&T Performing Arts Center, a US$354 million campus that opened in 2009 and includes an opera house, a 12-story theater, a public park, and 2,500-seat outdoor performance space.
More recently, a number of luxury residential high-rises have cropped up, such as Museum Tower, which was exclusively represented by Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty. The company is also the exclusive brokerage for the Hall Arts Residences, a 28-story tower overlooking the Dallas Arts District that includes just 49 luxury homes, including three penthouse apartments.
“Hall Arts Residences has—quite literally—pushed the height of luxury to new levels in the Dallas condominium market,” says Kyle Richards, real estate advisor, Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty. “It is also the first building in Dallas to achieve across-the-board sales at more than US$1,100 per square foot, during phase one of the project. The newly unveiled Masterpiece Collection—the last new homes available, on floors 20 through 25—is averaging more than US$1,300 per square foot. Two full-floor, custom-designed penthouses are being offered at an average of more than US$2,500 per square foot.”
Comparatively, the average asking price for a condominium tower apartment in Dallas is US$560 per square foot, Richards says, and the average sold price is US$460 per square foot. “The average sales price for all condominium sales activity in Dallas County is US$300 per square foot,” Richards says. “That goes to show the importance of putting an emphasis on services, amenities and quality finishes in a superior location, such as the Dallas Arts District.”
As these locations show, cities shape their inhabitants, and vice versa. This reciprocity can reach its most dynamic potential when eager audiences have easy access to forward-thinking institutions, which in turn become part of the fabric of everyday life. That’s artful living, indeed.
