As Bushwick Prices Rise, More Renters Look Toward Ridgewood

Is Ridgewood bound to become the next hipster haven of New York City? The New York Times seems to think so, in an article that looks at the rising popularity — and prices — in neighboring Bushwick. The average monthly rent for a studio in Bushwick rose 27 percent from July 2011, to $1,675, and it’s become the go-to neighborhood for hip restaurants, new development, and the HBO series Girls. Ridgewood, on the other hand, is home to much cheaper apartments, with a three-bedroom nearly 20 percent cheaper than in Bushwick. As the Times points out, Ridgewood doesn’t boast a comparable number of hipster destinations, but there are still “signs of gentrification.” They note Bunker, the new Vietnamese restaurant on Metropolitan Avenue, ChocoLatte Café, and the pedestrian plaza at the intersection of Myrtle Avenue, 71st Avenue and Stephen Street. Buyers aren’t immune to the neighborhood’s appeal, either. A family who couldn’t afford Bed Stuy or Bushwick on a budget of $700,000 ended up focusing their search over the borough line. The median sales price in Ridgwood is $400,000.

While development is moving quickly in Bushwick, it may play out a bit differently in Queens. The Ridgewood Community Board is pushing to designate a manufacturing area south of Myrtle Avenue as an industrial business zone, which would keep residential development from the 18-square-block area. But at the rate Bushwick is changing, the spillover into Ridgewood seems inevitable. At least for now, though, the neighborhood remains relatively under the radar. According to Andrew Barrocas, the chief executive of MNS, “We’re getting a lot of these landlords who historically have been in Manhattan saying, ‘Tell us about Bushwick; what is this area in Queens?’”

Costly Rents Push Brooklynites to Queens [NY Times]
Photo by Ridgewood2011