Pivotal Condo Project Planned for Clinton Hill
In what could be the tipping point for our home base of Clinton Hill, the troubled corner of Grand and Putnam, now marked by drug dealers and bodegas, is slated for a 50-unit condominium project. This is huge news for us–and we bet Adrian Grenier, who’s busy fixing up his place just down the block,…
In what could be the tipping point for our home base of Clinton Hill, the troubled corner of Grand and Putnam, now marked by drug dealers and bodegas, is slated for a 50-unit condominium project. This is huge news for us–and we bet Adrian Grenier, who’s busy fixing up his place just down the block, will be happy too. We’d heard this rumor as long ago as last summer but had been unable to confirm until a reader forwarded us this Century 21 listing this morning. From what we can tell from the listing, the current owner of the 9,000-square-foot property, which includes the corner bodega, a hair salon and the restaurant Kush, is looking for a $7 million investment from a joint venture partner. (It’s unclear whether the project includes the other building closer to Cambridge.) We’ve got no idea if the numbers make any sense, but if the project goes through it would be hugely positive news for those of us who live in the eastern portion of Clinton Hill, between Washington and Classon. In addition to making it harder for the police to continue to ignore the problems on this corner, the project could make it increasingly attractive for more upscale stores and restaurants to open on Fulton, similarly to what’s happened in Fort Greene. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed.
Listing #1716454 [Century 21] GMAP
Are the drug deals really causing problems on your street? I rarely hear of murders in Clinton Hill (save for the recent stabbing on Myrtle Avenue, but that was very close to the Classon Ave demarcation of CH and Bed-Stuy.) I lived right over the line in Bed-Stuy (Spencer St) and everytime bicycling through Clinton Hill (day or night) I never felt threatened by the people on the street.
My point is: sure, selling drugs is a crime. A big crime. If you’re caught selling drugs, you should be sentenced the maximum. However, if they aren’t causing other crimes that could directly affect you, why should you do something psychotic like pestering various officials to “remove” them? Maybe they live here and can’t get another job. You move in to their neighborhood, feel like they’re an eyesore (like a non-period mailbox or a new construction) and bitch and moan about them ruining “your” neighborhood. It’s not “conservative,” per se, but it is NIMBY whining. Maybe neo-liberal is the more proper term, or the less popular “law and order liberal.” If anything, that’s worse – you just refuse to admit your stuck-up, fearful, classist viewpoints.
Anyway, the conversation has gotten off topic a bit. I hope that the sale go through and the corner is developed (and that Kush survives). It would be good for the area.
Don’t understand how a desire to eradicate drug dealers and crime is conservative?
Anonymous 3:49, a fair reply.
For the record, the rehab house has been there since before we got to the block, and it’s so benign and inconspicuous that it took us almost a year to discover that it was there at all.
While most folks might not be surprised to know that certain corners in Crown Heights have drug dealers, I was actually a little surprised to read above about the drug dealers in Mr. Brownstoner’s neighborhood.
I hear you ltjbukem, but the people I see buying are not preppie college kids, rather they look like down and out people that may be homeless, or close to it.
I never understood how people discussing issues of petty crime and quality of life issues means they are conservative. I don’t think that the 60 a year old lifetime residents of my block in Clinton Hill who discuss these problems at block association meetings are conservative republicans. Lack of tolerance for petty crime does not mean you are conservative politically.
When reading these discussions, it becomes easier and easier to see why a)blogging is so powerful for conservatives and b)New York is no longer a liberal stronghold.
I live a block or two away. You don’t get molested by crackheads etc. I think people were just saying it is too bad that they are making the nice old Crown Heights brownstone into a drug rehab center – and that it cannot be something the residents of that block are too happy about.
What is frustrating though about this stretch of Clintoh Hill is that there are specific corners, primarily on Fulton Street, where you know the small time dealers (who probably all live with their mothers) regularly are found and the police do nothing. The corners are Grand and Putnam/Fulton, Grand and Clifton (from what people are saying on this site), Fulton between Washington and St. James, Fulton and Classon, Fulton and Franklin (the last two are technically Bed Stuy, but close enough). The dealers keep to themselves, and for the most part so do their customers, but wtf?! When there is a break in or some other petty crime in the area, I’d venture to say that it is the addict who buys drugs from the petty dealers looking for a quick buck. That is why I asked earlier who the customers are. If they are not from the neighborhood, then maybe there is a way to make it a less attractive place for them to be (i.e. new developments/stores with proprietors who are not paid off and do not tolerate the peddlers and their prey hanging out in front of their shops at all hours, throwing trash on the ground etc.)
I suppose that since there is little to no violent crime in the area, the existence of dealers is not a top news story. However, if it is true, and I’ve been told this by long time residents, that the police are paid off, then that is news worthy. Maybe we should contact Tish James, the police commissioner and/or news agencies to investigate.
Sounds great, Brownstoner! Let’s hope the project improves the area.
I can’t help but notice the irony though. Some of you may remember the thread a few days ago about the salvaged woodwork from the Crown Heights substance abuse recovery center for women on my block. People were quick to remark how we must be suffering from all kinds of ills including addicts coming and going, lower real estate values, etc.
I confess I’m tempted to make some snyde or sarcastic comment, but I hope it will be sufficient to say my wife and I are very happy on our quiet Crown Heights block, unmolested by crackheads, panhandlers, drug dealers and the like.