Downtown is Brooklyn's New Hot Spot
The fastest growing part of Brooklyn is not Park Slope, Williamsburg, or Brooklyn Heights. It’s Downtown Brooklyn, according to the Post. Ten years ago, only 3,270 people lived in the 60 block area, today there are more than 9,000 people. Since 2007, 28 condo and rental projects have been built, with 30 others stalled by…

The fastest growing part of Brooklyn is not Park Slope, Williamsburg, or Brooklyn Heights. It’s Downtown Brooklyn, according to the Post. Ten years ago, only 3,270 people lived in the 60 block area, today there are more than 9,000 people. Since 2007, 28 condo and rental projects have been built, with 30 others stalled by the economy. The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership estimates over 16,000 people by year’s end, as projects like Brooklyn Gold, and others, near completion. The Partnership’s Joe Chan estimates much more growth by 2012, and cites the building of Bruce Ratner’s Barclay’s Arena to boost the area even more. The impact of the arena will be historic. It is a gamechanger for Downtown and the borough.
Brooklyn’s Hot Spot [NY Post]
Bye bye “butterfly” …don’t let the door hit you on the a** on the way out!
What a pretentious piece of work you are! Where do you live buddy? Probably on a “lovely brownstone block” with manicured bonsai trees out front and a gazebos in the back….well let me tell you, that ain’t how it was going down on the corner of Flatbush and Myrtle five years ago….crackheads stumbling over from the methadone clinic and shelter on Tillary made the place look like “Escape From New York”. Hell yeah, I’m glad that the “Kennedy Fried Chicken” and the crack heads are gone…good riddance….and good riddance to people like Robby Butterfly who pretentiously turn their nose down on the benefits that development can have to a crumbling urban core like the one that existed on the Oro/Toren/Avalon footprint.
Except for small pockets of older buildings, downtown had acres of poorly maintained building stock. There wasn’t ,uch left to preserve, and Bell Tel was a great old building to convert. There was plenty of places for developers to build- and they have. But it is interesting that businesses, like groceries have not followed. I see the same thing in parts of Manhattan- like the garment center, where many buildings are now residential- no grocery stores.
Overburdened infrastructure? The downtown area is an interesting spot. I can’t say anything about schools since I don’t have kids but as far as subways go, the downtown area is a huge nexus of train lines. And also a huge area of local employment so what I used to see was an enormous number of people getting off at Jay St./Boro Hall and another getting on. I’m not sure what the demographics mean for subways right now but the downtown area always had more infrastructure than the older, brownstone neighborhoods.
We don’t really have any bodegas in the area either, daveinbedstuy. Seriously. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of the people who wants this to turn into a glorified Union Square. I am not a transplanted Manhattan yuppie. I actually moved from elsewhere in Brooklyn into the building, because there are really good deals to be had. You can hate on the buildings all you want, but in this rental market they’re a good option financially. All I’m saying is that I think the new tenants in these new buildings can actually help to address a need that has been underserved for all the people who have lived in the neighborhood for years and actively complained that there weren’t enough grocery stores etc.
robotpony — It may not have everything you need, but there is the relatively recently (re-)opened (it used to be an Associated) Concord Market in one of the Concord Village buildings at the corner of Jay and Tillary Streets.
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In Manhattan, the density usually supports two full-service bodegas on every block…I mean the ones that sell a good selection of produce
those are FAUXDEGAS and they charge 2 dollars more per pack of cigarettes and all their beer is MAD expensive and they never carry 40s!!!! they are the bane of my existence, dave.
except for the ones in harlem which ROCKED. they are 10x better than the bodegas in brooklyn, but i think it was because the owners in harlem were a little more lax in their policies on stuff.
fyi, my bodega got robbed last night! three kids swiped candy and walked right out and ran into the subway on union and 4th.
*rob*
robotpony, you’re probably right. In Manhattan, the density usually supports two full-service bodegas on every block…I mean the ones that sell a good selection of produce, not the skanky Brooklyn kind.
“now with the help of HUD”
FHA.
“the next few years”
Your timing is off. Try next fifteen years. We have to get through this depression first (FHA collapse/bailout, defaults, foreclosures, collapsing credit, higher rates, deflation, more war, etc.).
***Bid half off peak comps***
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Apple store soon perhaps? Welcome to Brooklyn’s future version of Union Square.
barf. ok im outta this thread, i now have a yuppie migraine.
*rob*
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I would much rather have Oro, Avalon and Toren in the hood, and all that they bring
yep.. that’s exactly what i thought
*rob*