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 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.
Very surprised that this wasn’t mentioned in the article.
yeah “artists” please… that’s like saying everyone in bushwick right now is an artist. bullshit. it’s just a bunch of rich kids slumming.
*roB*
It wasn’t ‘cool’ in the 80s — it was merely a good photographic backdrop. It was a great drinking spot for local teens as well.
Now it is just loud, dark, dirty, and overpriced, but it does have a lot of very nice housing.
I’m sorry, but rich people didn’t create Tribeca, Soho or DUMBO, artists and artisans did. After they created these wonderful loft spaces, and neighborhoods that were declared “cool”, the developers came in, recreating the cool for the wealthy who didn’t have to lift a finger, only buy, and buy dearly. Which they did.
I know artists in all three neighborhoods, plus Williamsburg, who were there in the beginning, and lived and worked in places that were a far cry from the fancy lofts that are there now. None of them are there now. That’s the way it goes, which is sad, but also inevitable, if you can’t afford to buy your space, which of course, most real artists cannot. But hating an entire neighborhood of people only because they are rich is ridiculous, and a waste of time.
Whereas Dumbo HAS gotten pretty homogeneous and fairly uninteresting, I remember what it was like in 1991 when my best friend moved into a loft on John St. And lemme say, it was desolate and kinda creepy. You might not have been able to score an organic turnip or a handmade German ultralight stroller anywhere in the nabe, but you couldn’t get a roll of toilet paper either. I once had to ride my bicycle in the sleet up to Brooklyn Heights to accomplish that particular task.
Anyhow, Brooklyn Bridge Park is pretty nice, although probably more so if you have kids and less so if you loathe and resent them.
oooooh burn! at least i add a BIT of diversity to park fucking slope!
*rob*
“those neighborhoods are my fav. types of neighborhoods, but the people suck so bad.”
Believe me, I’m sure people are saying the same of you when you walk down 5th Avenue.
i know. that’s what im saying. it’s like rich people who created TriBeCa. they created their own little suburban gated community. they kinda suck, im sorry. and i dont hate everything, but i do hate the types of people who live in dumbo and tribeca. both of those neighborhoods are my fav. types of neighborhoods, but the people suck so bad.
*rob*
Rob,
In this case, rich people CREATED a neighborhood. There was almost no one living down here before until it was developed in the mid 2000’s. They’ve created a wonderful little urban oasis which is thriving. You don’t need to like it, that’s okay. But why would anyone expect you to. You hate everything.