New Development: Greenwood's Shangri-La (Not)
Brooklyn Properties and Brown Harris Stevens are sharing the brokering duties on a new 15-unit condo listing at 710 Sixth Avenue in Greenwood Heights with an illustrious past. The six-story (plus setback) building just slipped under the wire of the rezoning in 2005 so it’s no surprise it doesn’t exactly blend in. There were lots…
Brooklyn Properties and Brown Harris Stevens are sharing the brokering duties on a new 15-unit condo listing at 710 Sixth Avenue in Greenwood Heights with an illustrious past. The six-story (plus setback) building just slipped under the wire of the rezoning in 2005 so it’s no surprise it doesn’t exactly blend in. There were lots of violations during construction including weekend work. To cap it off, the architect of this place is the charmer who told members of CB7 that “all your crappy little houses will be gone in 5 years replaced by my beautiful buildings.” Beautiful ain’t exactly the first word that leaps to mind, is it? As for pricing, the two ground-floor duplexes are asking about $400 a foot while one of the top-floor units is listed at about $750 a foot; most of the apartments on the other floors are priced in the mid- to high-$600s. Interestingly, parking spaces here are going for $30,000, a good deal less than the $75,000 price tag over at The Dewitt.
6th Avenue Condo [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP
Shangri-La Homepage [Brooklyn Properties]
I have lived here for 9 years and I can tell you that it was just fine – thank you very much – before all the development. (and I consider myself a newcomer) For some of us, this is our home, not some investment or some temporary place we hope turns out to be cool. The majority of my neighbors and friends here are life long residents, born and raised on this street, we don’t want our property values to go up so that we all have to move out because we can’t afford it, we are pretty much working class and living on paychecks that don’t allow us to frequent the new restaurants and hip bars (not that we would want to). Perhaps some of you should just think about who and what and how you are all so enthusiastic on displacing.
Anonymous at June 20, 2007 4:13 PM
I second that. I have lived in this nabe for 3 years now. I also look forward to more shops and restaurants.
Issue #1 of 2: Where does all this snobbery shit about the names of neighborhoods come from? Who gives a crap what the nabe is called now, as opposed to what it was called “back in the day?” The hostility that revolves around new names of these evolving nabes is psychotic. Anyone that simply fixates on what the nabe “should be called” is just being an asshole. period. This building is in a neighborhood that has been called “Greenwood Heights” since at least the early ’90’s, possibly earlier than that. The moniker Greenwood Heights is imprinted on a Hagstrom atlas I’ve had since 2001. This nabe used to be called Sunset Park by longtime residents, (and still is by some) but if you look at a map, you’ll notice that Sunset Park is at 42nd street. This building is between 22nd and 23rd streets, and I think it was appropriate to come up with a different name for the area, being that it’s 20 blocks away from the park. (By the way, the Hagstrom atlas shows boundaries of the Prospect expressway, 3rd avenue, PPW/McDonald Rd./Ft. Hamilton Pkwy, and 38th street that make up the Greenwood Heights nabe. If you hate the name Greenwood Heights, then just call it Sunset Park or north Sunset Park. I don’t give a shit, and I doubt that anyone else does either. But it DOES make sense that this nabe should have a different name than Sunset Park. OK?
Issue #2 of 2: Don’t you all think that there is an incredible amount of negativity thrown up against 90% of all the new development happening in Brooklyn on the Brownstoner thread? I live nearby this new building. I know who the architect is, he ain’t exactly the salt of the earth, and I would really do my homework before buying into a place like this. BUT, that said, new development is good for this area. New restaurants are opening up. The schools are improving. Most everyone’s real estate values are escalating (including the properties of many longtime resident owners who should be thankful for the infusion of cash and interest in the area.) drug dealers and criminals are slowly being cleared out. The police presence has improved greatly. Many of you all think it’s “ugly” “ratty” “fugly” or whatever, but the reality is, these kinds of places are selling and bringing more affluence and dollars to the hood, which I personally find to be preferable to old, decrepit structures rotting away in a state of perpetual apathy.
OK, I’ll stop after this…
http://tinyurl.com/33pvhr
Look for the second battle line (atop Battle Hill what’s now Green-Wood Cemetery), where it says “The Heights”
Just sayin’
Or is that “shits & giggles?”
Never happens to me 😉
And just for giggles & shits, from a BMT map from the 1950’s documented in this wiki:
http://tinyurl.com/2krrka
Scroll down.
Your jab, wwib.
wwib, to joust with you…I have seen tax maps, circa 1850’s at Green-Wood Cemetery that use “Greenwood Heights.”
I have seen revolutionary war maps that say the “Heights of Greenwood,” as well as the slightly earlier “Heights of Gowan.”
Back atcha, bucko.
When do I get my egg cream (and hell, where can you still get a good one?)
Brother LIB, we’ll happily throw down in, say, “Parkville” or fucking “Nottingham” anytime, tho’ not New Utrecht which seems a bit… “sketchy” (you know the term) sometimes.
elizbaeth e.: props for defending your modest home & others like it 1000%. note how even people who like to think of themselves as well-intentioned use words like “ramshackle” or “shabby” when describing others… just as so many “good,” non-racist people often call corners with local teenagers or even Brooklyn natives on ’em “sketchy.” (so i was being ironic above.)
re: 35 years = not enough. seriously, we can go round & round on all this but Greenwood Heights as a RESIDENTIAL area is bullshit, & a recent invention. pls find me all the Bay Ridge, Park Slope, Sunset Park savvy (pre-1980) Brooklyn literature that has ever– ever– mentioned that ‘hood. (i’ll buy you an egg cream if i’m wrong; it happens.)
make no mistake, wwib SUPPORTS the preservation movement there & also vigilance against DOB corruption but fronting pre/post Prospect Xpwy isn’t going to help when the Ghost of Kenny Wisdom is on your ass because you were supposed to meet him …
wwib
http://whowalkinbrooklyn.com
I live 3 blocks away on 6th ave and i love the area. So don’t get mad at me when I say that ‘out of context’ is a good thing in this instance. A lot of these houses (especially as you get closer to the Con Ed station) are poorly kept frames. I believe there’s one across the street from this that still is showing fire damage.
So I won’t comment on my opinion of the design (or the yellow stucco) but having something shiny and new there is a good thing, and maybe it will be a kick in the pants to some of the nearby homeowners to spruce up a bit…