When we walked from Smith to Hoyt on Baltic Street a couple of weekends ago, we couldn’t believe that this was 2007 near the epicenter of Brooklyn. We passed two homeless men sleeping in the school doorways, another one dumpster diving and garbage strewn across the playground. We know that projects are just a block away, but this block seems to have something going on beyond its proximity to the projects. As one commenter said in an earlier thread, it’s got bad karma.

It’s also got a lot of new developments springing up. Number 360 is a 5-story, 14,000-square-foot building designed by Isaac & Stern Architects; Number 377 (which we discussed here), working the community facility angle, will be seven stories and 27,000 square feet; meanwhile, Joseph Chan is charging ahead with his (which we discussed 11-story tower) that has been the subject of much concern among neighbors.

Anyone have any updates on any of these projects? Perhaps more importantly, what’s it gonna take to turn this block around? There are a lot of involved residents, so what’s the problem? Are the police not pulling their weight?

360 Baltic: GMAP P*Shark DOB
377 Baltic: GMAP P*Shark DOB
382 Baltic: GMAP P*Shark DOB