Dumbo: Past, Present, Future
This weekend’s cover story in The Times’ real estate section about Dumbo is notable not just because it might be the first article in the past couple of decades about the neighborhood that does not include the name “Walentas,” but also because it spotlights the continued evolution of one of Brooklyn’s most expensive and in-demand…
This weekend’s cover story in The Times’ real estate section about Dumbo is notable not just because it might be the first article in the past couple of decades about the neighborhood that does not include the name “Walentas,” but also because it spotlights the continued evolution of one of Brooklyn’s most expensive and in-demand areas. Some highlights:
New Development: As has been covered here, there’s a development boomlet in the neighborhood, including Toll Brothers’ build at 205 Water Street; the conversion of 192 Water Street; and the condo at 37 Bridge Street. The newsy bit is that Toll says it expects to get $800 per square foot at its condo when it’s completed.
Dumbo’s Rep: “‘It was cool in the ’80s,’ said Doreen Gallo, the executive director of the Dumbo Neighborhood Alliance, a residents’ group. ‘It was very cool in the ’90s.’ Now, she said, ‘it’s different.’ Many of the artists who lent the neighborhood its character have been forced to move, she said, and historic buildings have been lost. On the other hand, the rezoning, which many preservationists opposed, has delivered residents, businesses and cultural institutions.”
Its Office Scene: Well-covered territory about how businesses like Etsy and Brooklyn Industries have their HQs in the ‘hood; fun you’ve-come-a-long-way-baby quote about how a digital marketing and design agency that launched in the neighborhood in ’99 used to have security guards walk female employees to the subway.
Future Development: There aren’t that many places left to build, but there are lingering questions on whether the two Watchtower-owned parking lots in Dumbo, one the rezoned property at 85 Jay, will ever be developed.
Bringing Up Dumbo [NY Times]
I’ve visited DUMBO over the past 15 years on random weekends during summer/fall to hang out/dates and now I work here. Changes have been incredibly fast in past 5-7 years in my opinion and prices have gone up quite a bit would be understatement. Prices out of ton of people but proximity to NYC especially financial district and city hall is very hard to beat.
All that said, DUMOB is definitely running out of room for development and I think it’s bit too ‘hip’ and trendy now. In my opinion place is pretty much near full saturation and that means less growth coming for the neighborhood in long run.
I gotta agree with fsrg that it wasn’t artists that created this neighborhoods, it really was developers (suppliers) and people with money (demand). Artists lived here and other parts before the ‘boom’ because it was cheap and you got a lot of space. Not because they wanted to live in the neighborhood to change it and shape it the way they wanted. Bottom-line is that it was cheap and it is what artists could afford to live in or work in.
Parker’s Lighthouse was there for several years, at least as long as your average Smith St. place.
the restaurant now known as Bubby’s had several incarnations even way back then = Parker’s Lighthouse I believe…didnt last
– then it had a few Walentas subsidized restaurants.
The Gair buildings were working small-factory buildings maybe 15 years ago–I had temp jobs at a couple of printers there.
And the restaurant now known as Bubby’s had several incarnations even way back then. I remember taking my dad and stepmother to dinner in that location which was a fish restaurant, about 20 years ago.
By tinarina on May 9, 2011 11:03 AM
“I continue to be shocked by the popularity of DUMBO; so many of the streets are deafening with bridge noise. You have to maintain an indoor triple-glazed window existence.”
Whenever I’ve been down there for events at Galapagos, this was my exact thought. But based on the prices psf, plenty of people are OK with it.
Sorry Montrose – Artists did not create DUMBO – A real estate developer did. Essentially no one lived in Dumbo before the late 90’s. (please dont cite individuals you may know – a few lonely souls does not a neighborhood make)
There was essentially no stores, no restaurants no nothing. [Except on Old Fulton].
Also DUMBO was never ‘dangerous’ – spooky, eerie and smelly (a garbage processing plant on John St) yes – but Dangerous no. The area around York Street Subway was dangerous but that is actually Vinegar Hill (and those projects are still no bargain – crime wise)
And a little known DUMBO fact – they used to be a fairly productive Bondage-Porn Film Studio on Jay Street
Dumbo was cool…It went down hill when 11217 types moved in (circa ABC Carpet.)Restaurant options mostly stink still.
DUMBO is where dumb rich people go to get cancer and become hearing impaired.
*rob*
DUMBO did not follow the same trajectory as Soho and Tribeca. While artists certainly occupied some its lofts, it is different in that a developer (the Walentas family) recognized its potential early on, bought alot of the property down there, and have been a guiding hand in its evolution since then.