Dead' Hook: When Gentrification Doesn't Take
New York mag has a provocative article about how Red Hook’s failed to live up to the substantial hype pegging it as Brooklyn’s next great frontier for gentrification. (Evidence of that failure, according to the article, includes the closure of the Pioneer bar, bistro 360 and the Hook, as well as the claim that real…
New York mag has a provocative article about how Red Hook’s failed to live up to the substantial hype pegging it as Brooklyn’s next great frontier for gentrification. (Evidence of that failure, according to the article, includes the closure of the Pioneer bar, bistro 360 and the Hook, as well as the claim that real estate values appear to have peaked.) Red Hook’s used as a springboard for a deeper examination of how many of us have come to assume that there’s always going to be another neighborhood ripe for transformation:
In some ways, Red Hook was a Realtor’s dream, boasting Manhattan views, a salty maritime history (working piers! Brawling sailors!), and a brochure-ready name, all of which would play perfectly on some theoretical condo prospectus. Seeking waterfront living with a dusting of urban grit? Then drop your anchor in Red Hook! More crucially, Red Hook was simply next. Because if we’ve learned anything in the last twenty years of gentrification in New York, it’s that there will always be a next.
Do you really think Red Hook’s time has come and gone or is it just taking a breather?
The Embers of Gentrification [New York]
Photo by Betty Blade
where is red hook?
Red Hook’s ability to transform starts and ends with subway access.
It’s true there is really very little housing stock in Red Hook – and what there is is really ugly. Certainly, if all the buildings were great old brick factories – like soho or tribeca – it would be gentrified up the wazoo, projects or not. BUT, it ain’t going to happen that way. And Ikea is NOT going to be a good thing in terms of gentrification – I think it will just lure other big stores like Target and walmart.
I love Kool Aid
“I still think eventually that the so called gentrifiers will move in that area and then the services will come.”
Wrong!!!!!!!! When the assheads see their property values fall, they will cut bait and run!!!! Why would someone hang on is a shitty neighborhood? Dumb fuck drank too much Kool-Aid and the poision is taking hold. Plus when not if the credit market dries up, there will be NO MONEY to buy overpriced shit.
Read this retards
Mortgage Loan Losses Pose Risk of Systemic Shock
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601009&sid=ahE9S0dlVt8g&refer=bond
It says Systemic no local. LMMFAO! Yeah were Ok.
The What
Someday this war will end……
The main problem with red hook is the red hook houses -the projects right smack in the midle of the neighborhood. If it were not for that, the place could have easily turned into a sort of LA-style elite enclave. No entry except by SUV, no hoi polloi arriving by mass transit, big modern houses with water views like a hipper Riverdale.
But the projects kind of put a wrench in the elite enclave thing. Those of you who like Red Hook as it is have the projects to thank.
I think the lack of subways could have been a net plus, but the poor folks are already in there, so it would be impossible to tribeca-ize or dumbo-ize the area. Those two neighborhoods had few pre-existing residents so everyone that moved in was like evrybody else, white (or whitish) young (or youngish) rich (or extremely rich). Old buildings and new people seems to be the formula in NYC.
Why should Red Hook “gentrify?” I’m sure the people who are happy living there are fine with the place the way it is. Those who aren’t happy will likely soon move out. It’s not even worth arguing about.
Aside from the lack of subway service, the Hook doesn’t have much in the way of good housing stock. But I still think it’s going to continue on an upward climb. Fairway is a smash hit, Ikea will also attract people, and there are plenty of people who use cars in Brooklyn. It ain’t likely to be pretty, though. Nobody seems to build anything these days that isn’t fugly.
I agree with Donatella. Perhaps the slowdown of the real estate markets will stop the mindless search for the next hot spot. For long term health, neighborhoods need to grow and improve in an organic manner – slow and sure. That means a halt to the feeding frenzies of buying high is places that have not yet caught up to the hype. I include my own neighborhood of Crown Heights in this, as well as Red Hook, Bed Stuy, Bushwick, etc.
I’ve always liked Red Hook, but since I don’t have regular access to a car, I’ve been there infrequently. My first visit there was ten years ago to visit a costume designer I was working with, and I found its isolation and history charming and appealing. I agree that its lack of transportation options limit its growth, but I also agree that that can be a good thing, and that the neighborhood would be nothing special if it was not so isolated. Let’s hope that the recent postings here of really awful housing is not a sign of the neighborhood’s future.