Cobble Hill- One of Brooklyn’s first Neighborhoods to Gentrify and home to some of its best Historic Architecture

I followed the Google maps boundaries for the neighborhood using Smith St as the eastern boundary and DeGraw as the southern. The current name, a revival of a name which had died out by the 1880s, was adopted in 1959 when the neighborhood started to gentrify. Cobble Hill – which was named after the conical shaped hill called “Coleshill” was located where Atlantic Avenue, Pacific Street, and Court Streets intersect. Cobb Hill remained mostly rural until the establishment of the South Ferry in 1836. Development quickly came starting nearer to the waterfront and moving inward. By 1860 Cobble Hill was built out. Cobb Hill also incrementally became a destination for wealthier Manhattanites and matched the affluence of neighboring Brooklyn Heights by the 1870s. By the 20th century the neighborhood transitioned into more of middle class district after it absorbed an influx of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and the Middle East. By the 1950, brownstones were being rejuvenated and the neighborhood began to experience a renaissance. By 1969  most of the neighborhood was contained within the Cobble Hill Historic District. Cobble Hill has two vibrant commercial districts (Court and Smith) that have a nice mix of generational stores and higher end trendy shops. Cobble Hill become very trendy in the early 2000s as many restaurants and popular bars opened. The neighborhood still retains much of these vibes but the trendiest Brooklyn neighborhoods have moved east.

Cobble Hill is much less racially and economic diverse than neighboring Boerum Hill even though they both have similar levels of affluent residents. Assuming this is largely due to less stabilized rentals being located here. I would like to see affordable condos be build in the neighborhood to help address its lack of diversity and inequities. But for this to occur the neighborhood’s expansive Historic District would be to be relaxed on contracted. But all in all Cobble Hill is another great New York Neighborhood where there is truly little reason to own a car.

Click here to view my Cobble Hill Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent density at 55K residents per square mile. This is accompanied by excellent transit access to 5 subway lines. Also has excellent access to a CBD located just south of Dwtn Brooklyn of the neighborhood and a train ride to Lower Manhattan and Midtown are 25 & 35 mins, respectively.
* Great connectivity with gridded, generally small blocks.
* Very safe community with limited blight.
* Excellent bike infrastructure including several dedicated bike lanes and plenty of bike rentals.
* Solid sidewalk and ADA infrastructure with only a handful of outdate curb cuts.
* Get historic architecture mainly Italianate rowhouse/brownstones. Not much urban infill but everything that exists (mostly along Atlantic) is of high urban form and quality.
* Side streetscaping is a bit dated and warn but solid.
* Top Notch urban massing. Can’t find any surface parking lots in Cobble Hill.
* Solid array of walkable schools including a nice mix of public and private. Public schools are generally rated well but a couple of poorly rated ones.
* Good amount of rental product as well but also very expensive. Studios lease in the 2Ks 1-beds btwn 3K-4K, 2-beds btwn 4K-7K. Only a handful of 3-beds. However, there are a fair amount of rent stabilized units as over half of all units rent below 2K.
* Solid cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants, bars & cafes, several art galleries, a couple community theaters, a couple of local museums, the Cobble Hill Cinema and good access to the cultural amenities in Dwtn Brooklyn.
* Excellent retail amenities including several supermarkets & drug stores, a Marshall’s,  Mitchell’s, Five Below and easy access to all the Department and name brand clothing stores in Dwtn Brooklyn, great # of boutiques/gift stores,/home good stores, a couple book stores, a couple hardware stores, several gyms and dessert joints, plenty of churches a public library, an ambulatory center is located within Cobble Hill and  a major hospital & lots is only 10-15 min walk.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• A lot of for sale condo product but generally very expensive. Fair amount of studios and 1-beds selling btwn 500K-800K. But most of these units sell btwn 800K-1.5M. 2-beds range btwn 600K-2M with most units selling btwn 900K-2M. Good # of 3-beds but very expensive ranging anywhere from 1.3K-4M with most product selling btwn 1.5M-3 M. A lot 4-bed product generally selling btwn 2.5M-5M.
• Overall not great diversity as this is a majority white neighborhood. But a decent amount of lower-middle class households likely thanks to rent stabilization and a decent number of families with kids.
• Moderate amount of rental product as well but also very expensive. 1-beds btwn 3K-4K, 2-beds btwn 3K-6K. Only a handful of 3-beds are pretty rare. Fortunately a decent amount of the rental product is stabilized.
• No neighborhood post office”