Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So the way I see it if the 1st step doesn't happen, which can't happen in an upper middle class area like Forest Hills, then most wouldn't notice that it's gentrification. But step 2 and sometimes step 3 has been happening continuously at a place like Forest Hills for decades albeit not by people who look like hipsters, but regular white collar workers. Know plenty of non-natives making moderate six figures that have been moving in and out of that place the past few decades.
This is a good post.
I do think Forest Hills is going to become "hot" at some point in the next few years once a critical mass of white-collar transplants realizes that it's an urban neighborhood with subway access that already has an upper-middle-class character and good public schools. But this will drive prices up without seriously changing the overall feel of the neighborhood.
True, but with people talking about gentrifying the South Bronx and ENY it makes you wonder if you're going to go that far out why not go to an already middle-class area? Is Jackson Heights really all that much further than Crown Heights? Is Midwood really less convenient than Washington Heights?
The area of the South Bronx that is gentrifying is the tip of the Bronx and it is not far at all from downtown manhattan.
It all boils down to economics. The cheaper and closer the proximity to Manhattan, the better. If they have to sacrifice one they will sacrifice proximity for cheaper rent. A friend of mine moved over here from Europe to pursue the dream of making it big as a musician. They plopped down roots in Cobble hill. However, after many years of the whole starving artist bit they finally got a regular job. Jamaica was a logical choice because of the job requirement of international travel at least every other month. So proximity to airport and cheap rents won. The bonus was under 20 mins to Penn station and 10 mins to JFK on the LIRR .
Some of the previously mentioned areas lack a LIRR stop and are not very convenient commuting on the subway. The thing that made them exclusive and appealing, i.e being less accesible to the 'regular folks' who frequent mass transit, has now made them unappealing to the new city dwellers.
Proximity to the "attractive parts of Brooklyn" is also a big factor. A lot of people now don't even leave brooklyn. They eat, work, play, and sleep in Brooklyn. It explains why some people now don't consider some of the further reaches of brooklyn that far anymore.
I do think Forest Hills is going to become "hot" at some point in the next few years once a critical mass of white-collar transplants realizes that it's an urban neighborhood with subway access that already has an upper-middle-class character and good public schools. But this will drive prices up without seriously changing the overall feel of the neighborhood.
Ehh maybe. I kinda don't see that happening though. There will be a strong pushback from people in that neighborhood to keep it the way it is.
The area of the South Bronx that is gentrifying is the tip of the Bronx and it is not far at all from downtown manhattan.
Yeah and subway distance wise its the same time as going from Midwood.... except midwood has low crime and no projects. I think thats the point of the OPs post. The neighborhoods in South Brooklyn and deeper Queens have the same commute times as these "new" further out places like South Bronx, ENY, and Crown Heights.
Yeah and subway distance wise its the same time as going from Midwood.... except midwood has low crime and no projects. I think thats the point of the OPs post. The neighborhoods in South Brooklyn and deeper Queens have the same commute times as these "new" further out places like South Bronx, ENY, and Crown Heights.
Deeper Queens has no trains. The F train ends 3 miles from the border of Nassau and that actually leaves big areas with no subway access. If you count LIRR access more of Deep Queens has train service, but since you have to pay extra money for that it doesn't count. And even then some of those areas don't count.
I think the transplants think that that those areas are raw and gritty and represent the real Brooklyn, or they just dont know the cheaper areas. Obviously if they are transplants they wouldn't.
I like my non trendy non hip non transplants non gentrified are of bath beach, where you get more for your money, and 3 blocks from the Bay you have a bike trail, "Calvert Vaux Park", and stunning water views of the "Gravesend Bay", a large apartment and cheap rents for today's standards. We have tons of shopping and the D train. While it does take longer to get to the city, not everyone's life revolves around Manhattan.
So I don't think the transplants come out this way is because they think it is too far from Manhattan, and thats a valid point, it is.
And all that's obviously good for you and your neighbors.
Does anyone else think it's peculiar that so many newbies want to live in hoody areas like Bed-Stuy, Harlem or Bushwick when perfectly safe, urban and convenient nabes like Jackson Heights, Midwood, Borough Park, Elmhurst, Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, Forest Hills are untouched by transplants? Will these areas ever gentrify? What do you think is the reason for this?
Media, movies, TV, celebrities, all these things and people popularize living in NYC and where to live. I could care less where the media or newspaper says is a great place to live. It's all about dollars and sense. Transplants coming in are just herds.
Media, movies, TV, celebrities, all these things and people popularize living in NYC and where to live. I could care less where the media or newspaper says is a great place to live. It's all about dollars and sense. Transplants coming in are just herds.
Holy fudge, "gentrification" is the most overwrought, overused and misused word on this forum.
Long story, boring: the root word of gentrification is gentry.
gentry is the ruling, educated and wealthy class for any part of the world.
Pol Pot slaughtered the entire gentry class of his nation. Basically, Pol Pot was a reverse gentrifier.
Please stop misusing the term, I beg you all. All of you.
You can't "gentrify" places like Forrest Hills, since the gentry class already lives there.
Understand?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
