Spotlight on Bay Ridge
This weekend’s “Living In…[X Neighborhood]” feature in The Times was about Bay Ridge, and it had a few interesting details about the neighborhood’s real estate scene, like the mention of a woman who owns a “three-bedroom limestone row house that cost $46,800 in 1969 but that she estimates might bring $850,000 today.” The article also…
This weekend’s “Living In…[X Neighborhood]” feature in The Times was about Bay Ridge, and it had a few interesting details about the neighborhood’s real estate scene, like the mention of a woman who owns a “three-bedroom limestone row house that cost $46,800 in 1969 but that she estimates might bring $850,000 today.” The article also says real estate values in the neighborhood have weathered the downturn relatively well: “demand has remained strong through the slump of the last few years. Last year, 76 single-family homes sold, at an average of $812,000; at the peak, in 2007, 99 sold, at an average of $841,000, city data show.” Possible reasons for this include that there wasn’t a glut of condo development during the boom years because of zoning restrictions and because “Bay Ridge never really had a fallow period in the 1970s, like other parts of Brooklyn, brokers say, because there was never an exodus of families.”
You’ll Notice There’s a Bridge [NY Times]
Photo by Violette79.
bowl of dicks, it really depends on where in BR you live if you’re commuting to downtown. If you’re closer to the water by Shore Rd you can hop on the express buss. That commute wasn’t bad. I remember being able to get to Wall St within a half hour but I also lived near the last two stops on the bus before it hopped on the BQE. This was also 10 years ago. If you took the R train into downtown it was longer but was still manageable. If you worked in midtown though, you had an hour + to get to work every day.
Clinton Hill has a great mix of old-timers and newcomers, and what’s more important, it’s one of the most integrated (and welcoming) neighborhoods I’ve ever lived in. So I can’t afford a house here; our apartment is very nice.
Your commute will depend on where you live. We live two blocks from the R train so commuting anywhere does not seem like a trek. And my husband works right outside Grand Central so his commute is only an hour door to door.
Sure we could have stayed in our two bedroom coop in Park Slope but when given the option to trade it to own a limestone, with a yard to grow veggies in the summer and build igloos in the snow in the winter with our kids, we didn’t mind adding 20 minutes to the commute.
It’s what its worth to you.
You got it, gramps!
Heh, “minority” should have been “majority”.
I think Bay Ridge is one of the best neighborhoods in NYC, considering the cost. I’ve thought about what it would be like to live there a bunch of times, but just getting there from Cobble Hill seems like an eternity. If I had to make the trip (well, even further, because I work in Manhattan) twice per day, I’m not sure how happy I’d be. Plus, I go out in Williamsburg a lot, and I can’t imagine trying to get home at the end of the night (I’m not real fond of cabs, and don’t own a car).
So, realizing it’s only affordable due to it’s location, I guess I’m in the minority when I say, “if it weren’t so far away…”
Ha. Very true, Grand Pa.
Broker Speak translated:
“Bay Ridge never really had a fallow period in the 1970s, like other parts of Brooklyn, brokers say, because there was never an exodus of WHITE families.”
As if other parts of Brooklyn did not have families for some reason in the 1970’s.
Benson and Guy7 bring up excellent points. There is still a very strong old-timer presence here; although I sometimes wonder for how much longer, as the ridge is clearly getting more notice by transplants from the northern neighborhoods (myself included). I commute to Wall street on the train and it takes 40 mins. I couldn’t imagine having to do midtown.. And the number of times i’ve gone into Manhattan on the weekend since moving to Bay Ridge can be counted on only one hand. Fortunately, the retail avenues have a lot going on.