Upscale Green Townhouses Coming to Bed Stuy
Here’s a rendering for a trio of green, modular townhouses planned for a plot of land in Bed Stuy across the street from Restoration Plaza. Designed by Garrison Architects, the 2,900-square-foot houses have highly efficient heating, insulation and lighting systems. They also look pretty darn good, we think. According to the listing agent, one of…
Here’s a rendering for a trio of green, modular townhouses planned for a plot of land in Bed Stuy across the street from Restoration Plaza. Designed by Garrison Architects, the 2,900-square-foot houses have highly efficient heating, insulation and lighting systems. They also look pretty darn good, we think. According to the listing agent, one of the three houses is already spoken for, which is impressive since a $1,300,000 price tag isn’t easy to pull off in this part of town these days. Then again, nothing like this has been done in the area as far as we know. Think they’ll be a market for this approach?
22 New York Avenue – In Contract [Corcoran]
24 New York Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP
24A New York Avenue [Corcoran]
“and population of homeowners and residents who welcome anyone with a positive attitude and a willingness to work to improve the neighborhood for everyone.”
As a white man with a black wife, I can tell you that was not the case with me…
Harrassed on a daily basis in Bed Stuy. People there were downright rude and nasty. And I’m talking about the majority, NOT the minority of people.
Bed-Stuy resident here. I just checked out the architect’s website. They have a different rendering of these buildings showing how they look at the end of a row of brownstones. Much better image than the one posted above. Their plans for re-doing Restoration Plaza are also exciting and ambitious.
From an urban planning perspective and a green building perspective, this is all a good thing. If you think these houses are overpriced, don’t buy one. If you don’t want to live in Bed-Stuy, don’t move here… but do try to refrain from making ignorant, entitled, and racist statements like “my friends left and moved back to civilization.” Please.
The adjacent stretches of Fulton and Atlantic are your typical Brooklyn commercial arteries with a downmarket retail slant. They are not the Wild West. I have walked around there many times after 10 PM with no problems and I am female, white and unarmed.
Bed-Stuy is a huge neighborhood geographically speaking. It has gorgeous areas, problem areas, and everything in between. Restoration Plaza desperately needs a makeover in terms of aesthetics, pedestrian accessibility, etc., but the businesses around there are doing just fine. And if you walk a few blocks north you’ll find yourself on some of the most beautiful 19th century blocks in Brooklyn. (This is not just my opinion; it is shared by architectural historians and, if I’m not mistaken, Mr. Brownstoner himself.)
My opinions have as much, or as little worth as anyone else’s. I post my opinion, based on living in Bed Stuy for 17 years, during the worst of the crack epidemic, from ’83-2000. During that time no one I knew was robbed, mugged or killed, and I came home late at night and was never bothered in the trains or anywhere else. I don’t think that makes me special, or blessed, it makes me ordinary. My white, Asian and Latino friends came over all the time, and none of them was approached, robbed, or bothered. They still come to the same train station, walk up Nostrand in the other direction, but still marvel at the area’s beauty and potential for further growth.
I’m not saying anyone who has had negative experiences is lying, nor am I saying the hood doesn’t have problems. How many times do we have to say that Bed Stuy is a HUGE neighborhood? How many times to I have to say I know there is serious crime and poverty? Crime stats are from all over BS, and are not a good representative indication of what life is like for the parts of BS that most people who read this would be interested in, or the part of BS that I lived in, which was Jefferson between Marcy and Thompkins. We were safe, on a beautiful block with wonderful neighbors, for the most part. Teachers, lawyers, retired folks,firefighters, real estate agents, city workers, chemists, plumbers, students, musicians and artists, welfare recipients, a petty thief, and a couple of crackheads and unemployed whatevers made up my block, and in spite of the negative elements among us, we all knew each other, and went about our days without fear.
I am well aware that the amenties here are few, but they grow daily. I am aware that the area around Restoration is not the most scenic part of BS, that’s why I think any kind of new, innovative architecture is a positive. These houses don’t appeal to me at all, but I am not so myopic that I think that my taste is the only taste.
I post positive remarks about Bed Stuy and Crown Heights because I KNOW their worth, and I’m tired of people who sit in their “better” neighborhoods and dump on a place that they do not know much about,or drove through one day on the way to the airport. Fulton Street is not all there is to Bed Stuy. Crime is not all there is to Bed Stuy. I care about showing that those who choose to live here do so because we want to, because these neighborhoods have worth, not just for the turn of the century bricks and woodwork, but for their history and potential, their people and the hope of a better future. I’m writing for, and to, the people who can see past crime statistics, past stores they aren’t interested in, and see excellent public transportation, beautiful blocks of architecturally significant homes, and population of homeowners and residents who welcome anyone with a positive attitude and a willingness to work to improve the neighborhood for everyone.
The poverty, crime, knucklehead element, paucity of good schools, etc, is here, too. Never said otherwise. But there is so much more, and THAT is why I continue to be a pain in the ass about these neighborhoods. They are worthy of anyone’s attention, and worthy of anyone’s investment, and I’m proud to have lived in Bed Stuy, and am proud to live in Crown Heights now.
“I am sure the people who want to buy these townhouses are well informed and made their decisions after considering all the ups and downs, and might actually hope to contribute the community of bed-stuy.”
Actually I think that’s the part you have wrong. A lot of prospective buyers come to this website for information. If they were to see only Montrose’s comments, you’d think Bed Stuy was like Sesame Street.
I think it’s very helpful to hear others opinions. As another commenter said, I also know a couple families who moved to this area and it was not at all what they bargained for and have since left.
I don’t blame them. They got most of their info. from this website, which turned out to be a pretty dumb thing to do…
I don’t see why every time Bed stuy is brought up it turns into an argument. I looked at other precincts crime stats, bed stuy certainly has the most crime, but it is also the most improved. the murder rate is down 100% for the same time last year. The people who live here and care about the neighborhood and want to make it a better safer place will take the chance. The neighborhood has a lot to offer, but it still needs improvement. If you don’t want to live here or would feel more comfortable in another neighborhood thats totally fine. but i don’t see why people feel the need to get so hostile and insulting towards people choose to live in Bed stuy, Attitudes like that that reinforce negative cogitations with the neighborhood and hinder improvements . I am sure the people who want to buy these townhouses are well informed and made their decisions after considering all the ups and downs, and might actually hope to contribute the community of bed-stuy.
I don’t see why every time Bed stuy is brought up it turns into an argument. I looked at other precincts crime stats, bed stuy certainly has the most crime, but it is also the most improved. the murder rate is down 100% for the same time last year. The people who live here and care about the neighborhood and want to make it a better safer place will take the chance. The neighborhood has a lot to offer, but it still needs improvement. If you don’t want to live here or would feel more comfortable in another neighborhood thats totally fine. but i don’t see why people feel the need to get so hostile and insulting towards people choose to live in Bed stuy, Attitudes like that that reinforce negative cogitations with the neighborhood and hinder improvements . I am sure the people who want to buy these townhouses are well informed and made their decisions after considering all the ups and downs, and might actually hope to contribute the community of bed-stuy.
And ugly areas in so so neighborhoods should be precisely the area where “regular folks” can buy property.
But it’s not.
See why crime is spiking again in Bed Stuy???
I certainly do.
There are different parts , meaning streets, of EVERY neighborhood. The good, the bad and the ugly. Although I don’t think this part is that bad it sure as hell is ugly.
Why are some people so offended when strangers decide to spend their money on a home in the ghetto? What’s it to you?