For years, Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood often seemed like the real estate equivalent of a shoal in the flow of buyers heading downtown, eager to find the next trendy neighborhood. They frequently circumvented the longtime office district, around Fifth Avenue in the 20s and 30s, leaving it high and dry.

Even people just out for a stroll would avoid its narrow sidewalks, which were often crammed with boxes being delivered to the area’s fragrance, wig and costume-jewelry businesses, according to NoMad residents and workers.

But Carrie Hunt, a freelance art director, went against the current. Even when she had no reason to be in NoMad — which stands for North of Madison Square Park — Ms. Hunt would make it a point to visit, amazed that its faded Victorian-era buildings and slightly seedy vibe had resisted gentrification for so long.

“It has that excitement and grittiness of old New York, and also authentic beauty,” said Ms. Hunt, 41. In 2011 she and her husband, Noe DeWitt, 40, a photographer, traded a Chelsea loft for a NoMad co-op, in a cast-iron-fronted former hotel. The place, which cost about $1.3 million, needed major help. Its floors, for instance, were cracked and sloped six inches.