3rd Avenue is Starting to Happen
If 4th Avenue is the next Park Ave. (a laughable notion at this point), does that make 3rd Avenue the next Madison? Silly comparisons aside, 3rd Avenue in Gowanus is quietly transforming into an exciting retail/restaurant corridor. New businesses are joining neighborhood mainstays like the Glory Social Club and more recent ventures such as Canal…
If 4th Avenue is the next Park Ave. (a laughable notion at this point), does that make 3rd Avenue the next Madison? Silly comparisons aside, 3rd Avenue in Gowanus is quietly transforming into an exciting retail/restaurant corridor. New businesses are joining neighborhood mainstays like the Glory Social Club and more recent ventures such as Canal Bar, Le Chandelier Salon, Tri-State Chess, Bella Maria Pizza, and the light manufacturing/artists’ hub at the Old American Can Factory. Here’s a roundup (from south to north) of what’s recently hit and forthcoming:
Bar Tano at 9th St.: Italian restaurant from Slope’s Bar Toto owners; opens this week.
Brick Oven Barbeque on 6th St.: BBQ joint opening in old warehouse.
Whole Foods on 3rd St.: Should come to fruition…eventually.
Home Ec betw. Carroll & 1st St.: Owners of the Flirt boutiques teach sewing lessons.
Hotel at President St.: Construction under way for 4-story hotel.
Crooked Tail Café at President St.: New coffee/sandwich shop; will open in about a month.
Drugstore or Supermarket on Degraw St.: New owner is looking to lease big warehouse.
Skate park at Douglass St.: Local group wants Thomas Greene park revamped with skateboarder friendly features.
Check out the photo montage of the new places and coming attractions on the jump.
I agree with everything 12:55 said, it’s on the money (and backed up by every study done on real estate trends and urban development).
The only thing I disagree with is his profile of the person who is writing the anti-artist rants. 12:55 said he thought this person was young and privileged. They wish! Young and privileged people tend to come from backgrounds that are well-versed in the arts and support art and culture. These are the people who bankroll culture is most towns. I say this person is clueless housewife turned realtor. With her “location location location” simpleminded mantra. No understanding of what MAKES a good location in the first place! Which is the artist/bohemian factor. Look it up, lady realtor. It’s a well known and studied phenomenon. It’s exactly why every town outside of NYC and around the country are DESPERATELY trying to build the arts/culture in their community.
Thanks 12:55. I’m afraid it’s like arguing with a brick, but nicely stated.
The real ignorance in this thread is that no one has commented that East New York, Brownsvile and Canarsie ARE NOW being filled up with artists and warehouse dwellers.
Williamsburg is long over. Bushwick is on the way out. Think white kids in their 20s wouldnt wonder so far East? Think its still too rough? Think again.
“Wow, you people are more ignorant than I ever imagined. You actually believe that violent areas far from Manhattan and served by one local train route would gentrify merely because artists live there? Geez, what a grandiose sense of self-importance.”
Whether you like it or not, it’s not a grandiose sense of self imprtance, it is actually historical fact. Go do some research, talk to some people who actually have first hand knowledge of the process and the past history of the neighborhoods in question and you’ll find out that you are an idiot. You are basing your entire belief on your own biases and misguided and ignorant viewpoints. Consult anyone who has lived in your neighborhood twenty years ago until now and they will set your little stupid angry mind straight. There are former small town run down crime ridden vacant communities in rural areas in upstate New York that have become expensive gentirified living communities and exclusive tourist destinations soley because artists took over the areas not so long ago and ultimately turned the area around. And these towns are VERY FAR from Manhattan and NOT CONNECTED to the subway!
“All of the areas that you cite improved because of their location. Even if not one artist moved to Soho, Williamsburg, etc., those areas still would have wound up as exclusive as they are today.”
Not true. Soho would not be full of galleries and boutiques now if it wasn’t for the artists. Neither would Williamsburg. Why did Williamsburg never gentrify until artists moved in? Huh? You can’t answer that one can you?
“And, yes, artists are stupid. They continue to get priced out of neighorhoods, yet never consider buying property, only investing $ in renovating spaces that they RENT. Clearly, displaying paintings or playing music for audiences comprised of family and friends doesn’t bring in much money. Get a real job and maybe you won’t have to leave so often.”
Possibly many of the artist that move into undesirable and dangerous neighborhoods cannot AFFORD to buy property.
Way to go to insult people in a low econmic bracket as being stupid that they cannot afford the same thing as someone else that swoops in and can. That really makes you look foolish and very unlikable.
Your last comment unmaskes you for who and what you are… a very young, privledged out of towner new to the City and very arrogant and niave. Clearly you think that creative people and/or people less economically fortunate than you are stupid.
Most of the worlds most famous and rich painters and musicians began their careers displaying paintings and playing music for audiences comprised of family and friends. It doesn’t bring in much money at first, but these people end up making more money than someone like you will EVER hope to see in your wildest dreams.
Of course these are the same people that you currently look down at. Just remember when you are looking up at a VERY rich artist or musician one day, he or she might be that poor stupid person that you sent packing.
Ah, finally some decent eats for the lunch hungry bench techs at The Mac Support Store!
12:39 – there is no relevant music being created today – by anyone
most relevant forms of art and music today were created by poor people with day jobs not some dood with an art degree from some school in Rhode Island.
But what do artists have to do with any the new condos coming on 3rd Avenue, or the overpriced properties in Sunset Park? The kinds of early-wave artists that venture into scuzzy areas and gentrify them, they don’t spend this kind of money on live/work space. Plus NONE of these new condos are live/work loft spaces. They’re wee little apartments with tiny bedrooms.
As for the warehouses there, it’s still an active, industrial area with the warehouses being used by successful construction and manufacturing companies. They’re not struggling along, and they’re not going to be all that willing to move just because a condo is being built next door. Many of them own the building they’re in, not lease it. Some of these places are going to be permanent neighbors to the condo developments. And they should be staying permanently! They’re Brooklyn based companies paying taxes that help keep our property taxes low, and they provide jobs.
>white people ruin everything
Yes, every time they leave someplace, it falls into ruin. Mysteriously.