100%. I lived in the East Village in the bad old days, late 70’s early 80’s. Shooting galleries, muggings, people openly hawking heroin on street corners, blocks that you had to avoid at night, my slum dwelling didn’t have a locking front door or intercom.
Now those same blocks are full of cafes, nice bars and families, the rent on my old place has gone up about 25X. I wasn’t born here, came after college looking for an adventure, 50 years ago. I’d never bet against NYC