Tag: New York City

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”

Brooklyn Heights- New York’s First Commuter Suburb, First Historic Preservation District, and home to many of the City’s Leading Abolitionists

Originally referred to as Brooklyn Village, Brooklyn Heights has been a prominent area of Brooklyn since the early 19th century. It was the first part of Brooklyn to see major residential development and became New York’s First commuter suburb with the establishment of regular ferry service making it an easier commute to Lower Manhattan than from the Upper West and East sides. By the Civil War there were over six hundred brownstones built and by 1890 the neighborhood was completely built out. Brooklyn Heights contains the largest concentration of Anti-Bellum housing in New York with the majority of such structures concentrated in the northern edge. The neighborhood also became a hot spot of leading abolitionist leaders and major stop along the underground railroad.  By the early 20th century, Brooklyn Heights was well connected by subways going into Manhattan and the neighborhood lost its specialness, which lead it to transition from a more exclusive neighborhood to one welcoming more and more working and middle class families as most mansions were divided up into  apartments and boarding houses. Artists and writers began to move into the neighborhood and large hotels sprung up in the 1920s. During the 1940s and 1950s Robert Moses forced his Brooklyn-Queens Expressway along the western and northwestern edges of the neighborhood removing a significant chunk of Brooklyn Heights’ oldest Brownstones. The Cadman Plaza development along the eastern edge in 1960 displaced 1,200 residents but at least provided modest rental and co-op housing. Neighborhood opposition led the Brooklyn-Queens expressway to be routed from the heart of the neighborhood to the bluff and helped created the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Brooklyn Heights also hosted the City’s first major preservation movement leading to the City’s first Historic District in 1965 protecting a large chunk of the neighborhood’s historic character. This helped lead to Brooklyn Heights being one the first Brooklyn neighborhoods to gentrify in the 1970s & 80s.  The 2010 brought the extensive Brooklyn Promenade and Pier parks giving the neighborhood excellent park amenities.

Brooklyn heights contains main business districts: Montague, Atlantic, and several blocks of Henry. The Eastern edge of the Brooklyn Heights is the Downtown transitional zone along Court Street and a block of Montague. From a urban perspective there area only a few areas of improvement I see. Brooklyn Heights needs a lot more affordable housing units, which can only be built if the historic preservation designation is relaxed. This would help add much needed economic and racial diversity. The district could also use a sprucing up of its streetscaping as well and more schools and larger affordable housing units to welcome more families.

Click here to view my Brooklyn Heights Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great density at just over 70K per square mile.
* Top notch transit access and excellent access to Dwtn Brooklyn just to the east and only a 15-20 min train ride to Downtown Manhattan and Midtown.
* Connectivity is great except for the fact that I-278 cuts through the northern and western edge of the neighborhood.
* Excellent bike infrastructure including several dedicated bike lanes and good access to bike rentals.
* Overall a very safe community.
* Excellent historic architecture. A great mix of mid-late 19th century rowhouses & brownstones and early 20th century apartment bldgs.
* Great tree canopy especially considering how dense the neighborhood is. Feel more like a tree canopy in Paris.
* Good amount of rental product as well but also very expensive. Studios lease btwn 2.5K-4K, 1-beds btwn 3K-4.5K, 2-beds btwn 4K-8K. Only a handful of 3-beds. However, there are a fair amount of rent stabilized units as Medium rent is around 3K and half the units rent below 2K.
* Excellent park amenities thanks to the new and extensive Brooklyn Bridge and Pier parks developed along the East River between 2010-2021. The parks include roller rinks, pickle ball courts, recreational trails, large lawns with great views of Lower Manhattan, playgrounds, dog parks, beaches, basketball courts, soccer fields, marinas & more. Up the hill is the Brooklyn Heights Promenade was created in the 1950s above the Robert Moses designed Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. The Cadman & Columbus Plazas also sit on the neighborhood’s eastern edge.
* Pretty good school access including a well rated public and private grad school, a couple specialty public high schools and several other well rated private or specialty public schools in surrounding districts.
* Very vibrant foot traffic but not overwhelming like in Midtown.
* 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, good # of boutiques/gift stores,/home good stores, a couple book stores, a couple hardware stores, several gyms and dessert joints, plenty of churches, a major hospital & lots of doctor offices, plenty of salons, and  Dwtn library & post office.
* Good cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants, bars & cafes, a couple live music venues & night clubs, a couple museums on the edge of Dwtn Brooklyn, a couple performing arts theaters, and convenient access to the indie theater in Dwtn and its cultural amenities.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

  • Not much modern in-fill other than a handful of buildings along the neighborhood’s eastern edge with Dwtn but this doesn’t negatively impact much the urban quality of the neighborhood.
  • 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.
  • A lot of for sale condo product but generally pretty expensive. Fair amount of studios and 1-beds selling btwn 300K-500K. But most of these units sell btwn 500K-1M. 2-beds range btwn 600K-2M with most units selling btwn 900K-1.3M. Good # of 3-beds but very expensive ranging anywhere from 850K-4.3M with most product selling btwn 1.5M-3.5M. Some 4-bed product generally selling for a couple Million more.
  • Some of the streetscaping looks a bit tired and some intersections have outdated ADA curb cuts.”