Scaffolding Down, Listings Imminent at 93 Nevins

Woah... I lived next door to this "building" about 10-12 years ago for several years, and it was an empty shell at the time. From the top of our building, we could see the top of this building, and it looked like someone had thrown a laundry machine through the roof. The building was also full of feral cats and rats.

They were always signs up that construction was imminent, but at the time, the building was owned by this crazy guy who lived on Pacific, and he told me he was holding out for $2mil for the site. At the time, that was of course insane, and even at the height of the market, I considered it insane since you couldn't salvage any of the building. Maybe $2mil for such a large lot, but there's no backyard at all.

Further, the location, while it has improved significantly, is still a crap-hole. When I lived there, we could hear gunshots from down the street. Our walls were so thin that we could hear the traffic signals "click" when they switched from Walk to Don't Walk, and people would drive by at all hours of the night with their stereos blasting. More than a handful of times, I left for work in the morning to find that either a bum had passed out on our stoop or someone had taken a crap on the stoop (either that or a really really large dog). The playground further towards 3rd was always full of homeless people, broken glass, urine and feces. About 6-8 years ago (right before I moved), they opened a 24-hour laundromat off of Atlantic that went all the way through to Pacific, which I had thought was great, except they started having fights, stabbings and shootings in the back parking lot, and people would be making tons of noise all night long from the parking lot (both will be audible for this new building). There was also a guy in the neighborhood who used to masturbate regularly in his car as women walked by. This was a nice added bonus. One of the nicest parts of the neighborhood was hearing the calls to prayer from the Arabic school. Of course, this too got old after a while.

Overall, I'm sure this neighborhood is nicer, and I really did like the fact that the neighborhood was so diverse with large hispanic, black, middle eastern, and caucasian populations that existed in relative harmony, but there was a large enough element that made living there unpleasant. I honestly can't believe it has gotten that much better nor will any time soon; it's too far from Smith and too close to 3rd and 4th Avenues.

I don't know how much they'll be charging for these place, but I'm pretty sure you'd have to pay me twice that amount to move back onto that corner.

Posted by: Manitoba at February 10, 2009 12:16 PM

Knickerbocker -

We must have been neighbors very briefly! I think I moved in around there right when you must have been leaving. I remember that 455 Pacific Street used to be a crack house as well. It was very sad because the previous owner had died of AIDS (so I heard), and nobody in his family claimed the property, so it just fell to crap. 455 was also squeezed in between this "building" and an empty lot, and the empty lot had at one point been a pool for the owner at 455 Pacific, but when I lived there, it was full of garbage and rodents. I had been told that the owner of that lot was the owner of 93 Nevins, but I never knew if that was true. Regardless, they built 2 building on the empty lot - they're not the most beautiful buildings, and they're both 3 stories tall, but it definitely looked better than what was there.

I always thought the two buildings north of 93 Nevins were beautiful even if they needed a lot of work. It's unfortunate that 93 Nevins looks like it'll be an eyesore for the neighborhood, but it's better than what was there.

Posted by: Manitoba at February 10, 2009 12:25 PM

Chuck - It's good to hear that the neighborhood has improved significantly, but I agree with Knickerbocker in that the noise will always be there, and last I checked, the projects weren't moving anywhere. It's also true that the subways are close, but I would never walk up or down Pacific Street after 11pm by myself. When I lived there, I always walked down Atlantic to Smith and then over to Bergen. It was a round-about walk, but way safer for a single woman. That's also something you can put up with when rent is affordable, but when you're talking million dollar condos, you expect greater safety and more quieter streets. Hopefully for the sake of these tenants, the building will be soundproofed, and they'll install motion-activated lights.

Also, for those of you still in the area (i.e., chuck and knickerbocker). does "Cookie" still live there? He was a somewhat burly Puerto Rican man, who had two huge pit bulls he walked regularly. More than once, he walked me to the subway and always knew all of the neighborhood histories and gossip. He lived on Pacific in a building his family owned; I always feared they would be forced to sell it.

Posted by: Manitoba at February 10, 2009 1:26 PM

"more quieter" = "more quiet" or "quieter"

Posted by: Manitoba at February 10, 2009 1:28 PM

B.H. -

I'm not trying to start a troll war either, so sorry if my words came off as harsh. When I refer to "crap hole", I'm definitely not referring to the area that I actually consider Boerum Hill. However, when I lived in the area, the stretch of Pacific Street from 4th ave to Nevins was not a nice area. Further, I've never considered this part of Boerum Hill; for me, that was always west of Nevins.

When I first lived there, 457 Pacific Street was an empty garbage lot, 455 Pacific Street had just been "rescued" from being a crack house, and 453 Pacific was full of garbage and rats. Also, the playground at the school across the street was full of broken glass and homeless people at night.

By 2000-2002, however, I agree with you that even the stretch of Pacific was getting nicer. The laundromat had opened and hired a security guard to deal with the fights at night in the back, the school had fixed up the playground (I hear now it's astroturf which is great), the school had become safer, 457 Pacific had been built and 455 Pacific had been renovated.

But, even in the mid-90s, I thought Boerum Hill was nice, but I lived east of Nevins and was not sad when I moved out.

It sounds like the developers are nice honest people, unlike most Brooklyn developers, so hopefully they'll find success and be able to fix up other dilapidated buildings.

Posted by: Manitoba at February 10, 2009 8:05 PM