Stuy Heights as "Transitional"?
Anyone live in or familiar with the area of Bed-Stuy east of Stuvesant Ave up to Saratoga and below Putnam Ave? My husband seems to think it’s a ‘transitional’ area–ie property values may not rise, but I’m trying to convince him it’s the same as the rest of bed-stuy, as nice as the Lewis ave…
Anyone live in or familiar with the area of Bed-Stuy east of Stuvesant Ave up to Saratoga and below Putnam Ave? My husband seems to think it’s a ‘transitional’ area–ie property values may not rise, but I’m trying to convince him it’s the same as the rest of bed-stuy, as nice as the Lewis ave shopping area, etc. There’s really nice homes in that area and a park at Saratoga. Anyone have comments on living in that area? We’re looking to buy, so we’re in it for the long term.
We’ve been over by the Gates ave J stop for a number of years and I have to say that crime has not been much of an issue–cars rarely get broken into. We walk past the police and fire stations on the way home. You hear gunshots once in a while but that doesn’t seem out of the ordinary in NYC. Not everyone is friendly but we’ve gotten to know many of the folks on our block who have been great. It’s short on restaurants and coffee shops–I wish we were closer to Saragina, Peaches, etc. But, on the other hand, we have a Walgreens, a BofA, a surprisingly good Associated, a decent green grocer and a farmers market on Wednesdays. Some blocks are beautiful others are a bit sketchy. Its definitely cheaper than Stuy Heights but I think fewer businesses are willing to take a risk on opening over here. Given that, I have to think that when property values rise, they are going to rise here more slowly than around stuyvesant and Lewis. On the other hand, you can get more house for less here.
Finding a tenant was no problem–and we’ve been totally happy with them since they moved in.
Having a car really helps.
My family and I purchased a condominium in a recent renovation. The entire building sold out in less than 4 months, so obviously the area has something to offer if buildings are selling out this fast. There are many new developments in the area that are quietly in the works. We recently had 2 designers visit our building to get ideas for a project in the area they are currently working on. We are a block away from Saratoga park and 2 blocks from the Halsey J train station. The J train is terrific! We have never felt ourselves to be in any danger. The J train is new and clean and has great AC. It comes often and runs late and gets you into Manhattan in 15 minutes or less. Not sure why people place so much emphasis on the A train. It takes longer to get into Manhattan and it’s more filthy and crowded.
The neighborhood is very safe and our neighborhood block association is very proactive. Most of the area west of Saratoga park is a historic gem. Halsey street, Macon street, and others have beautiful architecture, tree-lined streets, and great residents. Of course, as with most areas, there is always room for improvement, but for the price per square foot you get a lot. We get the occasional comment about our existence in the neighborhood, but the majority of people we have met here are happy to have more owner-occupied residences and folks who care about the community.
Broadway is a common route for me when I go out jogging. I have never experienced any problems. The street is actually quite clean and you’ll find some interesting shops if you take the time to look for them.
As somebody mentioned above, it is an area that is developing quietly, a quality that was attractive to us as it means prices are still low. We have two kids that love Saratoga Park. Lewis Ave is only a few minutes away and there is always parking in the area. We are very glad to live here.
Agentofthesquid, what an interesting post.
No, we don’t avoid the JMZ. We’re on it. As for rentals, if you’re up around Broadway Myrtle, you might get some Bushwick spillover.
I live near broadway and use the jmz, and have heard or witnessed no such shootings. I actually feel really safe in my part of the Stuy. I am a tiny blonde woman. I come home late at night, I walk all over the place and ride my bike alone and have never felt a threat here that couldn’t be handled with a good joke.
That said, I hear or see the aftermath of a shooting twice a year or so, more often in summer and more often in my experience around Gates ave. Young black men do shoot one another here. This is terrible to live around because there is nothing more senseless–it deeply offends my belief that all human life is valuable. But unless I get super unlucky it’s never going to be a direct threat to my person. Nobody’s targeting me. I don’t really see this as a safety problem.
Re: rental unit. I found a tenant relatively quickly who is great and quite comfortable here. There were no practical problems renting my unit last time around, even though the rental unit was in the pooper–I just had to drop my price once.
That said, I did have a thought-provoking experience. I interviewed about five different kids who grew up (like me) in white suburbs and kinda realized in front of me that they are not going to be okay with occasionally being the only white face on the train, and they wrestled with the situation in more and less graceful ways.
One of the reasons I really like living here is because I think race in America is an endlessly fascinating conflict that I am motivated to understand better. So watching that process of these kids seeing their own racism for what looked like first time was interesting. But it was also intense. Honestly, I think that’s the thing about living here that’s worth assessing for yourself, even more than safety. Anyone with basic street smarts will be okay here. But if you can’t have an inquisitive mind, big heart and a sense of humor about race, you might become bitter in this neighborhood, because race is a huge deal here.
Thanks everyone for the responses, much appreciated! Should you have more thoughts, please do add them.
Anyone have experience as a landlord in that area? I’m wondering if it’s harder to get tenants since it’s less accessible than stuy heights proper.
Some folks mentioned the broadway area is riddled with shootings, do you avoid the jmz line altogether?
Don’t listen to the non-property-owning trolls. He’s got no idea what prices are in Bed Stuy. That Putnam property that went for $775k a few weeks ago is a good example.
I really like the housing stock in that part of Bed Stuy. Mostly 3 story brownstones, most built in the 1890’s, when the grand overblown Victorian styles were transitioning down to simpler fare. The rooms are also more open feeling, as well. If you are into period detail, it’s still really nice, with great woodwork, floors, and lighting, but not the very fancy and formal styles that many people feel makes them live in a museum.
Neighborhood-wise, this has always been sort of forgotten territory. Most of the blocks are very quiet, and I think more people would find a similar situation to agentofthesquid, although one should always investigate any neighborhood in any part of town at all hours. I think the ideal solution would be to have a car, out here, because amenities are few and far between. Almost everyone out here has a car for the same reason.
This part of BS seems to be revitalizing quietly on its own without the hoopla some other parts of BS get. I would say that buying anything here, especially something with a lot of detail, would appreciate quite well in the long haul. Go for it.
You’re naive to buy right now unless you have money to waste. Prices to fall another -37.5%. DIBS is wrong. Very few properties in Bed Stuy are selling at peak. Prices are generally down -20% everywhere. The disparity of different nabes and prices was already built in before the boom/historic mortgage handouts. Everything roughly up +200% from trough, everything will be down roughly -50% from peak. It comes down to rental and income fundamentals. You’ll see.
***Bid half off peak comps***
Mopar, re schools: I don’t know where the district line is but we live on Marcy not far from Fulton, and we are in District 13, the same district as Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Ft. Greene, and Park Slope north of Union St. My guess is that variances within the district will be possible for a while. I have a friend in Crown Heights North, not in District 13, who was offered seats for her son at PS9 in Prospect Heights and PS11 in Clinton Hill, 2 years ago. The seats were offered in the spring before her son was starting Kindergarten, not at the last minute in September when schools were filling the seats for kids who were registered but didn’t show up.
Just another thought about this end of Bed-Stuy. Not really an issue for me because my daughter is entering high school and was on her way to middle school when we moved here. Although for sure we didn’t put our zoned high school, Boys and Girls, on our list.