Brooklyn’s Next Boomtown is Next Door

By on February 12, 2010 4:51 pm in Development, Downtown Brooklyn, Real Estate


According to Rich Calder in The New York Post, to find Brooklyn’s newest hot residential area, you need only cross Cadman Plaza or Court Street between Tillary Street and Atlantic Avenue:

Brooklyn’s fastest-growing residential neighborhood isn’t in the Brownstone Belt from Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope — it’s all happening Downtown.

New data show that since 2000, Downtown Brooklyn has gone from a struggling business district saturated with 99-cent stores to home to more than 9,000 people …

The development corporation estimates 16,700 residents in the area by year’s end, as recently completed projects like the 510-unit Brooklyn Gold rental complex on Gold Street begin taking in tenants. By 2012, the number could grow by another 4,000 to 8,000.

According to Calder’s article, completion of the Nets arena planned for Atlantic Yards would be a “game-changer” for the area, accelerating its transformation.

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  • Teddy

    So when can we expect a Apple store and H&M to open on Fulton Street?

  • nabeguy

    Well Teddy, Brooklyn may have freezed over, but Hell is still pretty warm.

  • my2cents

    Maybe some foodie guru chef will resurrect Gage and Tollner as it was, only with organic everything and speakeasy-style cocktails.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Heaven help me, but all I can think of is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB5a6y3okeo

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Major game changers are both City Point, a mixed use development that replaces Albee Square and Willoughby Square Park which is projected to be the size of Bryant Park in Manhattan. Both included in link:

    http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/01/more_details_on_1.php

    Question is, will be the city be able to afford the construction cost of this park?

    There is no question that this small area will have the highest concentration of wealth in all of Brooklyn due primarily to its vertical wealth.

    Problem is with all these new residents, services haven’t been quick to set up shop.

    Tillary rentals, Oro, Toren, 80 Dekalb, Brooklyner, Livingston Street Building, Forte, One Hansen, BelTell and more. A ton of new housing. Also Be@Schermerhorn will be on available sometime at distressed prices. Only other area that comes to mind with such an excess of inventory is Williamsburg. Should be interesting.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Forgot to mention Avalon Bay Fort Greene on Myrtle and Flatbush Ext., another huge rental development and Condo’s on Ashland and Myrtle built by the Gristedes guy, Catman.

  • Andrew Porter

    There’s a lot more development even closer than that. There’s the big new building at the corner of Atlantic and Court, the new buildings on Livingston and State, the Brooklyn Law dormitory, the conversion of the old Board of Ed building, all in the small area bounded by Court, Atlantic, Boerum and Joralemon.

    Eventually, the Heights will be surrounded on the north and east by tall buildings, just as Boston’s Back Bay is by new developments.

  • SteveFtGreene

    The Post article is just an uncritical rehash of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership press releases.

    Does anyone here recall that the upzoning of downtown Brooklyn was sold as a way to bring office buildings and JOBS to the area? But a residential area filled with big, ugly buildings is better because Joe Chan says so? Developers win, Brooklyn loses.

    Also, in response to a previous poster: Willoughby Square park is projected to be only 1-1/2 acres. Bryant Park is 9 acres. Sorry, not a “game changer”.

  • frbullwalker/pollyanna

    the tall buildings will block more sky like Manhattan
    unfortunate
    but at least someone
    is buying something-the shopkeepers etc may be able to stay open with
    the new traffic

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    I stand corrected. Willoughby Square will be 1.8 acres. Maybe I have a different perspective but that is still a decent size park to relax in. An open space park compared to what is there now is a major improvement.

    Anyone who really knows this area around Flatbush and Myrtle knows it was a waste land of gas stations, car washes and buildings falling down under their own weight. Having those tall Manhattan like structures with high net individuals is a good for Brooklyn and good for the surrounding areas businesses. Yea, excuse me for being a capitalist.

    To say that developers win sounds very cliche. Do you really think that developers are winning in this area at this time? They are getting killed. Ratner is a bad man. MetroTech is a disaster. I don’t think so. MetroTech was frowned upon at the time and it has been a tremendous success.

    Personally, I’ll take the Toren, Oro, Tillary rentals, and Avalon Bay anytime to what was there before. They will be fully occupied in time. Unfortunately they have updated Google maps recently but before they did they had excellent pictures of what this area looked like before it was built up.

    In 10 years this area will be a thriving community and that is good for Brooklyn Heights businesses as well as DUMBO, Fort Greene etc.

    http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/48/30_48joyonduffield.html

    My comparison to Bryant Park was taken from attached article. It said Bryant like, my bad.

    http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/2/32_2_sp_willoughby_square.html

  • frbullwalker/pollyanna

    I just said that but you said it better
    and yes Ratner is a nightmare

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Yes frbullwalker/pollyanna, we agree on one point and disagree on the other. Hey, 50% isn’t that bad. If we all agreed on everything, what a boring world we would live in.

    I didn’t mean to repeat what you said. If you look at the times posted, we both posted at exactly the same time. 7:50AM. It’s Saturday, I should be in bed sleeping.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    I have attached a page from forgotten NY Neighborhoods and it shows 3 pictures that are indicative of what the Myrtle/ Flatbush Ext. area looked like. This site is no fan of development but the pictures tell the story. Hope link works:

    http://tinyurl.com/ykl44jk

    By the way, this page also shows the tremendous success story of preservation on Duffield Street Houses. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a fanatical advocate of preservation but only when it makes sense. In my mind, in this immediate area their wasn’t much that warranted preservation excepting that beautiful Roman Catholic Church and the houses previously mentioned. My omission of Joy Chatel’s house was not an accident. I congratulate her on her success in fighting big government but the premise left me scratching my head.

  • nabeguy

    My big concern with these “instant villages” is directed towards essential services. Plopping down huge residential structures in areas that were not zoned for it might put a huge stress on the water, sewer and electric grids. I can only hope this was accounted for in the overall planning stage and that bursting water mains aren’t an afterthought.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Good point nabeguy. I can only assume that essential services were upgraded and were taken into consideration by the City Planning Department. As for the Toren, which I am intimately familiar, their energy will be supplied by five on-site 100-kilowatt generators.

    J

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Nabeguy,

    We can further this discussion at the next cocktail party you and i attend. I’ll bring a bottle of Bordeaux, a 1787 Chateau Lafite. Only the very best.

  • what steve said

    my name says it all

  • nabeguy

    Karl, I’ll bring my taste-buds. See you there.

  • SteveFtGreene

    The idea that MetroTech is a success is one that I’ve seen quantified, although the idea is repeated often.

  • SteveFtGreene

    Sorry, typo in there:

    The idea that MetroTech is a success is NOT one that I’ve seen quantified, although the idea is repeated often.