Getting started in NYC

[Shabaz Ali]

I am a engineer in my late 20s looking to invest in real estate in NYC. I will have some decent cash soon after the sale of equities totaling 300k after taxes (got lucky during the meme stock frenzy).
I want to start off by investing in multi family here in NYC but I can’t seem to figure out what area I should look for property in, or how many units I should target and if I should target cash flow or appreciation?

I am really interested in the South Bronx area given the number of recent developments there but when I analyze deals there they mostly seem to be painful in the short term until some of these developments are done and gentrification is starting. 

Anyone got any ideas what you would do in my shoes?