Living In: Prospect Heights, Where Historic Meets Brand New
Rebecca Saltman, 41, an instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and her husband, Benjamin, 39, a doctor, were enthusiastic about the sense of community and the cultural amenities of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, when they bought their townhouse there in 2010 for just over $1 million, with help from Ms. Saltman’s parents, who live in the garden apartment.
“I can walk down the street and see my neighbors every time I go to the grocery store,” said Ms. Saltman, who previously lived on the Upper West Side. She also appreciates the proximity to “incredible institutions” such as the Brooklyn Museum and Prospect Park, where she frequently takes her 4-year-old twins.
But the Saltmans knew that a big change awaited them: the controversial $4.9 billion, 22-acre development then called Atlantic Yards and since renamed Pacific Park Brooklyn. It was about three-quarters of a mile from their home, and “we were very unsure of the impact it would have,” she said.
The Barclays Center, the development’s centerpiece, opened in 2012, and arena-related traffic has added about 20 minutes to Dr. Saltman’s commute home from Long Island. On the plus side, however, the couple have gone to two Nets games at the center, and when Ms. Saltman took her mother to a Barbra Streisand concert there, “my mom was beyond thrilled.”
428 ST. MARKS AVENUE A two-unit townhouse just outside the eastern border, listed at $1.75 million. (718) 986-7509 [Paul Murphy, Corcoran Group] Credit Kenny Karpov for The New York Times
As construction continues, even more change is coming to the neighborhood.
With more than 6,000 rental apartments and condominiums to be built as part of Pacific Park by Greenland Forest City Partners, as well as other new construction, the population is expected to grow to almost 34,000 in 2025, from around 19,600 in the Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey, according to Gib Veconi, the chairman of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, an organization founded in 2004 that has advocated for historic preservation and traffic calming, among other issues. Pacific Park is scheduled for completion in 2025.
Families with young children are already a sizable presence. Lonnie Firestone, 36, a freelance journalist, said the local schools and playgrounds were among the reasons she and her husband, David Firestone, 35, a lawyer, bought their $700,000 two-bedroom condominium when she was pregnant with their first son four years ago. The couple also have a 1-year-old now. “I think of this neighborhood as very family-friendly,” she said.
With the expected growth, “you worry about the infrastructure,” said Louise Heit-Radwell, 52, a dancer and teacher who has lived in Prospect Heights since 1994. “Where are those kids going to go to school? I’m worried Dunkin’ Donuts is going to move in, more Starbucks, Rite-Aid. That would change the tenor of the neighborhood, and not to the better.”
Ms. Heit-Radwell and her husband, Steven Radwell, 58, a writer and editor, have already witnessed major change. In 1986, Mr. Radwell bought a two-bedroom two-bath prewar co-op near the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library for $170,000. Fifteen years later, with a toddler, the couple added an adjoining one-bedroom apartment. For half the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, they paid the same $170,000.
What You’ll Find
Depending on the particular street, a stroll through Prospect Heights might offer a view of 19th-century brownstones; luxury prewar apartment houses; or ultramodern buildings. Part of the neighborhood belongs to the Prospect Heights Historic District.
The neighborhood’s cultural crown jewels — the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Central Library — are set along Eastern Parkway, the area’s semiofficial southern boundary. The other borders are Washington Avenue on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the north and Flatbush Avenue on the west.
The main commercial streets, Vanderbilt and Washington Avenues, have become increasingly gentrified. But the mix of retail businesses remains eclectic: A laundromat with a faded sign and the artisanal Empire Mayonnaise Company occupy the same block of Vanderbilt.
Based on the census bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey, Mr. Veconi said 58 percent of the area’s residents were white, 29 percent were black and 8 percent were Asian.
What You’ll Pay
According to the Corcoran Group, 12 houses and 68 apartments were for sale on Feb. 8. Houses ranged from a three-unit townhouse for almost $1.5 million to a renovated five-floor townhouse for $4.5 million. Apartments ranged from a co-op studio at $299,000 to a four-bedroom penthouse condominium for $6.86 million.
135 EASTERN PARKWAY, #6E A three-bedroom three-bath, co-op in Turner Towers, listed at $1.55 million. (718) 832-4180 [Tracey McLean, Corcoran Group] Credit Kenny Karpov for The New York Times
The median price for one-bedroom condos rose to $775,000 from $730,000 over the past year, according to Corcoran, a 6.2 percent increase, and for two-bedrooms, to nearly $1.07 million from $975,000, up 9.7 percent. As for co-ops, the median for one-bedroom co-ops rose 3.6 percent, to $487,000 from $470,160. The median for a two-bedroom actually slipped around 2 percent, to $740,000 from $755,000. The median price for multifamily townhouses rose about 16 percent, to almost $2.85 million from $2.45 million; the median for single-family townhouses increased by about 2.5 percent, to $2.56 million from $2.5 million.
Terry Robison, an agent at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, said 41 rentals were available on Feb. 8, ranging from a studio on Washington Avenue for $1,650 a month to a four-bedroom in the full-service Turner Towers building on Eastern Parkway for $7,500.
What to Do
Besides the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Park and the Central Library, other Brooklyn institutions within easy reach of neighborhood residents include the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Old-timers mourn the 2015 closing of the Usual, a diner and longtime gathering place on Vanderbilt Avenue. But customers are flocking to new upscale eateries such as Ample Hills Creamery for ice cream, Chuko for ramen and Joyce Bakeshop, all on Vanderbilt Avenue, and Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue on Flatbush Avenue.
Mount Prospect Park, nestled between the library and the Brooklyn Museum, was a lookout point during the American Revolution, then the site of a major municipal reservoir, and now a tree-lined playground.
550 VANDERBILT AVENUE, #502 A one-bedroom one-bath condo under construction in Pacific Park, listed at $845,000. (718) 679-9000 [Corcoran Sunshine] Credit Kenny Karpov for The New York Times
Crowds pack the West Indian Day Parade along Eastern Parkway on Labor Day, from neighboring Crown Heights into Prospect Heights.
The Schools
Public School 9 at 80 Underhill Avenue has about 830 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade. On the city’s 2014-15 School Quality Snapshot, 46 percent of the students met state standards in English, compared with 30 percent citywide, and 43 percent did in math, versus 39 percent.
The lack of a large neighborhood middle school has been a touchy point since Middle School 571 was closed in 2013, according to Mr. Veconi of the neighborhood council. The Department of Education last month announced that a middle school with room for about 600 students will be established in a residential tower under construction as part of the Pacific Park development.
The only other local options for that age group, according to Mr. Veconi and to data from the city’s Department of Education, are small schools such as Brooklyn East Collegiate Charter School.
The Commute
The B, D, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5 subway lines all serve the Atlantic Avenue/Barclays Center station. Other stops for the 2, 3, 4, B and Q dot the neighborhood, while the A and C trains can be found nearby. It’s about a half-hour to Midtown. The Long Island Rail Road stops at the Atlantic Terminal. The History
The silent-film star Clara Bow was born at 697 Bergen Street, in a tenement that has since been replaced by a brick rowhouse. She and the sports announcer Howard Cosell both attended the old P.S. 9 on the corner of Sterling Place and Vanderbilt Avenue.
Copyright © 2016 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission. Kenny Korpov/The New York Times.
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