Williamsburg Comes to Crown Heights?
The New York Sun took a look at Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights yesterday, noting that “bodegas, hair salons, and fast-food restaurants lining the section of Franklin Avenue that runs between Eastern Parkway and Atlantic Avenue, on the western boundary of Crown Heights, are slowly being replaced by organic markets, cafés, and clothing boutiques.” One…
The New York Sun took a look at Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights yesterday, noting that “bodegas, hair salons, and fast-food restaurants lining the section of Franklin Avenue that runs between Eastern Parkway and Atlantic Avenue, on the western boundary of Crown Heights, are slowly being replaced by organic markets, cafés, and clothing boutiques.” One resident likened the newfangled street to Williamsburg, noting his own store has started stocking organic produce to please the new residents, moving in for the relatively cheap rent; one broker says apartments are about $300 less a month than similar pads in nearby Prospect Heights, and that retail rents can be $1 or $2 less per square foot. Not all residents think that if the street changes it will become a Bedford Avenue; Smith Street and 5th Avenue were invoked, as well, noting the new beer garden, Franklin Park (which apparently draws residents old and new to its halls), a fancy boutique, Point de Couture, a cafe and a tattoo parlor. A 21-year veteran is redeveloping his own building into a residential complex. Question: Is it possible for a neighborhood to shift like this without becoming Park Slope or Williamsburg, to withstand an influx of residents and retail and still be very much Crown Heights? If these new establishments manage to speak to those who’ve lived there for years, maybe we’ll see an example of it. What do you guys think?
Franklin Avenue Changes as Crown Heights Shifts [NY Sun]
Houses, Crown Heights. Photo by gkjarvis.
Andrewlee, I suggest walking around a lot on streets you find attractive, and look for broker signage and take down numbers and call. In spite of recent coverage, and higher priced listings, the large brokerage firms do not have the majority of listings in neighborhoods like Crown Heights. Small, local brokers do, as they have for the last 70 years. They may not be fancy, or media sophisticated, but they have the listings, especially the more affordable ones.
Also, talk to the older folks tending their yards or sweeping out front. They know everything and everyone, and usually know who is thinking about selling, and other tidbits about the neighborhood. I know several people who got homes here by asking people in the neighborhood about upcoming sales.
of course, the art and music scene in williamsburg is real. it’s what differentiates williamsburg’s gentrification from other brooklyn neighborhoods.
i think that crown heights is an interesting place because it is still reasonably priced for what you get. sure it will gentrify further, but agree with other posters that it will resemble Fort Greene or Clinton Hill rather than Williamsburg.
My wife and I and baby live on Eastern Parkway near Classon in a rental, and we really want to buy in the vicinity of the Franklin Street subway stop. We are finally ready to buy financially.
We’re looking for a 2 or 3 BR, on par with our current space. We’ve settled on this area because we have family nearby, and there is great public transportation. Anyone have any suggestions of how to go about looking in this particular neighborhood, or any really good brokers with interesting stuff.
I confess. I am new to the buying game. Is there something more to Crown Heights than simply visiting open houses and talking to brokers?
Thanks for any help and/or help.
If not for the armory, i’d be a lot more open to the neighborhood.
Presuming it continues to improve, theres no reason to believe that it wont follow the Fort Green and Clinton Hill models in which the neighborhood slowly changes demographically over time.
That Armory is too beautiful and too powerful of a building to just be used to store homeless men. As the area grows and this gentrifers become parents the city is going to have a big problem with what to do with the youth. I think this place would be great as some kind of school or center for the youth in the area. Crown Heights will become a hip cool area the bones are already there… Crown Heights becoming the place it once was is good for all the communities around it including Park Slope as well as Bushwick and everything in between. I guess time will tell it all… I just hope sooner than later…
great post and neighborhood analysis montrose! I’m hoping what happens in Crown Heights is the development of more, interesting mom and pop type stores, small businesses that are more personalized, rather than the starbucks and other chain store types. I liked what happened on Tompkins St. I know some of the business have closed, but the street saw the opening of interesting, home grown businesses and quite a few have succeeded. I don’t think it should be assumed that only an influx of gentrifyers will make these businesses successful. There are plenty of residents who are middle class who love to shop in their neighborhoods and support these businesses.Same for Crown Heights.
I understand the concern about the armory- i live nearby and of course it’s an issue. But I also believe this community is strong enough to deal with it, no matter what happens. It’s gone through enough over the years, and far worse. This isn’t a community that gives up.
I meant Franklin Park, not Hall.
I pretty much agree with lincolnlimestone. An important point he/she makes is in taking the time and money to put forth a good business plan. I’ve seen plenty of businesses open and close here because of poor planning. Just getting the space and paying the rent is not enough. Neither is having even the best idea. That is why I enjoy reading the Bird Blog. Her progress may be slow and tedious, but I bet her business will suceed, because she has a rock solid plan. I welcome good business people to Crown Heights, with all kinds of businesses. There is great potential here.
I think the renaissance of Franklin Ave, specifically, is due to a couple of factors. First of all, you have ease of transportation with the Franklin Ave shuttle running along (duh) Franklin Ave, connecting Brooklyn subway lines that may meet only otherwise in Manhattan, making the area available from anywhere else.
Secondly, the commercial architecture of Franklin Ave is already set up for storefront shops, restaurants, etc, and the landlords there seem to be more amenable to change. This is unlike Nostrand Ave, which should be the commercial heart of CH, and seems to be in commercial lockdown, with absurdly high rents and a culture of intransegence by the very small number of landlords on that ave, who seem to like things the way they are, and/or are waiting it out for some brighter future. Franklin still retains a neighborhoody, small city, main street feel, which is very desirable for the kinds of businesses that are showing up there.
Thirdly, because of the proximity of Prospect Heights, as well as the Jewish Hospital Apts, new construction and renovation, this area is seeing a large influx of twenty-something, mostly white, renters seeking inexpensive apts, whose social life includes eating and drinking out, organic and natural foods, and clothing shops. Most of the new businesses are catering to this population.
This sets up the conundrum of gentrification – it’s great for all of us to have these new businesses. Those of us who are not twenty-something, or even white, also enjoy eating and drinking out, natural foods, and all of the other perks of being in a gentrifying neighborhood. A better neighborhood is better for us older timers as well. I think that CH will be better able to keeps its cultural identity because Wmsburg is much more of a blank slate. Its Hasidic population is very insular, and disconnected physically and culturally from “hip” Wmsburg, and to a lesser degree, so is the Latin side of town. The industrial spaces that make up much of the desirable cool part of town were largely sitting unused until the artists and others moved in. Crown Heights’ Caribbean and African American presence on the retail streets is still strong, and will remain so, and the community, as evidenced by the local presence at Franklin Hall, is just as glad to get new businesses. It doesn’t have to be “them and us”. It can be “we”.
what block is the photo of? I see it all the time on here and need to walk over and check it out.