House of the Day: What Price PLG Perfection?
Even though $1.395 million is a lot of dough for Lefferts Manor we think this new listing won’t even be around to see the fireworks next week. If you’re into period perfection this place will knock your socks off. (On the flip side, if you’re not, it’ll make you gag.) It’s got the full monty:…
Even though $1.395 million is a lot of dough for Lefferts Manor we think this new listing won’t even be around to see the fireworks next week. If you’re into period perfection this place will knock your socks off. (On the flip side, if you’re not, it’ll make you gag.) It’s got the full monty: parquet floors, carved wood paneling, leaded stained glass. The 20-foot detached house sits on a 37-foot-wide lot on the neighborhood’s (arguably) best block. For $100,000 less, we think this is looking like a better buy than 68 Midwood despite the latter’s many positive attributes. Think we’ve got that right?
77 Midwood Street [Aguayo & Huebener] GMAP P*Shark
ED, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens gentrified first because they’re next to Booklyn Heights, just as Windsor Terrace gentrified because it is next to PS and Clinton Hill is gentrifying because it is next to Fort Green. The real issue is being able to walk to a gentrified area and shopping. I know you really want to believe that people who won’t spend 1.2plus million to live in PLG are evil racists, but the reality is that they’re just lazy.
Once again, Bob, you’ve got it right! 🙂
Fort Greene gentrified before PLG because it’s closer to Manhattan. But it gentrified AFTER Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.
Anon. 5:27
I think the biggest change is in the apartment buildings on Ocean Ave., facing Prospect Park. Also the buildings on Hawthorne St. bet. Bedford and Rogers.
2:14–I’m just a regular visitor to PLG, but I haven’t seen any changes in the large apartment buildings along the western side of Flatbush ave. It seems to be the same predominantly black low-income population it was 5 years ago. While some of the apartment buildings on the eastern side of Flatbush have changed, others, such as the ones at Rutland, Fenimore, and Winthrop, haven’t changed at all. Do you see something I don’t?
On FG comparison, the big difference is that FG is next to the slope and a stone’s throw from the Heights. Previously undesireable areas such as FG and Carrol Gardens gentrified more quickly because they are next to gentrified areas. PLG, Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, etc will take longer because gentrification has to hop over the park, cemetary, etc.
Anon. 2:25,
I wasn’t really trying to equate FG and PLG–I know there are many differences (although the stability of the middle class black populations in both neighborhoods is rather similar).
bob, FG is more expensive because most of the homes there are larger than the houses in PLG (4-5 stories high). the fact is many people will spend more for properties in other nabes (e.g. PS, FG, PH, etc.) because they offer some form of income. however, i really don’t think FG and PLG can be compared “just” because they both have a “large black” population. they’re really both lovely communities with prized real estate but very different…and i like the mood…and the people in lefferts far better than folks i’ve emerged upon in other nabes. i’m viewing properties in BS neighborhoods, including harlem, and i find lefferts manor–primarily because the houses are so beautiful–coupled with the fact that the homes are one family–to be the one place i’d most likely settle. oh, and one more thing, i’m really not expecting a “bargain” because quality is a high priority for me!!!
Thanks for your comments GG. I personally don’t expect more than a slight increase in the percentage of white’s living here, but my crystal ball is a little cloudy, so who knows? FWIW, my HOPES for PLG are about the same as your’s.
Bob,
I’m still reading this thread and I thank you for this very well thought out post. However, even as a long time African American homeowner who has no intention of selling, I’m not so sure that I agree with you about what the majority population of this neighborhood will be in the future. In my view, there are such rapid demographic changes going on in PLG now, including in the large apartment buildings, that I’m hesitant to say it will forever remain the majority Black nabe I knew it to be when I moved here nearly 20 years ago. What I do see, though, (and heartily welcome) is the increasing diversification of the neighborhood not just by gentrifying whites. The area is slowly becoming a mini-UN, what with the increased presence of Asians, Latinos, Middle-Easterners, Russian Jews, Africans, etc. IMO, it’s all good . . . but especially so as long as affordable housing options remain viable here.