Living in Gowanus
Thanks to all who have responded to my posts this week. One last biggie: Place we are considering buying is on 11th street below 4th avenue. We are nervous about moving so far from park and seemingly far from services we are accustomed to. However, in exchange we are getting more space for the bucks….
Thanks to all who have responded to my posts this week. One last biggie: Place we are considering buying is on 11th street below 4th avenue. We are nervous about moving so far from park and seemingly far from services we are accustomed to. However, in exchange we are getting more space for the bucks. Anyone have an opinion about this area good or bad? safety, shopping, noise, pollution,up and coming or ongoing no man’s lands….etc
thanks….
Ok, we checked out Gowanus for ourselves and just don’t think it is worth the money. Both Greenpoint (as another poster mentioned) and Bay Ridge cost the same or less than Gowanus, and are far superior neighborhoods in terms of livability.
We have been keeping a blog about our search for a home, so if you want to read our full report on Gowanus, you can check it out here:
http://iwantawalkup.tumblr.com/post/1069525165/review-gowanus-brooklyn
Thanks for all the advice.
Thanks for all the great advice on this thread. My girlfriend and I are looking at different neighborhoods right now and Gowanus was our next stop. I think we will have to look around the neighborhood to get a good feel for ourselves, but certainly appreciate the headstart.
With all due respect, who wants to take advice from someone who’s named themself “grumpygirl”
this is my two cents: i would not live in gowanus.
i do not care if where i live wasn’t too close to the canal, or be thrilled that it didn’t “smell.” my understanding is that scientists have deemed the toxic threat down there as worse than love canal. do you remember love canal? why in the hell would you want to live in a super-fund sight?
people are buying there, now. once they start dredging that canal there’s no telling what will be there, and that could tank your property value. and, more so, it could kill you and your family.
thanks to all who provided input.
We are going to go ahead with possible move to 11th street below 4th ave!
Anyone have a good recommendation for inspector/someone with excellent structural engineering? Or can we assume most inspectors in park slope area are used to looking for potential issues in old frame structures?
10 years ago, I decided I wanted to buy a house in Red Hook. At that time the neighborhood was full of floating trash and a pack of feral dogs. Everyone catalogued the drawbacks: crime, flooding, no transportation, and no services. I never regretted the decision. It was hard, and for a few years we had to go out of the neighborhood for everything. But slowly the vibe changed. People were slowly building up a neighborhood. I really drew on the creative buzz of the place. MY kids grew up through all this, and I think it taught them a great lesson-that with work you can create and build up a neighborhood. Sometimes things take time to mature. Sometimes it is too easy to buy into a complete package. Now there is a Fairway, a great Urban farm, a few great restaurants, and a pharmacy-all of it on a the waterfront. Glad I listened to my gut.
As a teenager I dated a girl who lived on Harrison St. in Tribeca. We used to walk hand in hand jumping over the rivulets of blood, and avoiding the hanging racks of beef stored out in front of the slaughterhouses.This was long before Chanterelle. Point is: New York is always rebuilding itself.
I would put Gowanus at the top of the list in terms of the next “it” neighborhoods in the borough. As has been said, its proximity to so many thriving and green neighborhoods (as well as transportation) puts it right in the middle of an extremely vibrant area.
Some of the same negative comments being said about Gowanus are some of the exact same ones said about DUMBO 10 years ago and today there was a 2 page article in The Daily News about how DUMBO is the coolest thing since sliced bread. NO ONE (except perhaps the Walentas family) 15 years ago would have guessed that there would be a loft for sale in DUMBO for 25 million dollars, no matter how spectacular the views may be.
If Gowanus were SO bad, it wouldn’t NOW be attracting new restaurants, clubs, art galleries, cafes, pie shops, bars, etc since becoming a superfund site. And since inevitably you do think about the long term when purchasing a home, you need to think about what that really means. It means that superfund status will ensure than one day the canal will be clean. While that may take 10 years, even 20, the day that happens, your property value doubles. Can’t you just imagine a freshly cleaned up canal, trees, an esplanade, shopping all along the canal and a boardwalk with trees and flowers? I can.
Given the transformation of so many parts of this city, that is the future I see for Gowanus.
In the meantime, enjoy one of the truly great (and safe) industrial areas of our city while it’s on the upswing and people are excited about opening businesses there. You are getting in on an area which is only improving with each passing year. It’s so fun to walk around down there and see a neighborhood become more vibrant with each passing day.
Good luck.
And p.s. If I were given a choice between an apartment in Brooklyn Heights and an apartment in Gowanus, I’d choose Gowanus. The notion that housing there is not able to be resold is poppycock. Don’t listen to the old fogies. 😉
or is it?
“you will never be able to resell property there.” (Minard)
Huh? That’s ridiculous; the place is about to be “resold” right now.