BedStuy endgame (Utica, Marcy, Greene: low income, homes, income)

[BBMW]

Most of those black brownstoners you talk about are likely originals (bought back in the bad old days when those brownstones were cheap), and are probably quite old. They may not sell (themselves) but at some point they will die off. When they do, what are their heirs going to do with the properties? a good %, likely a majority, will sell to cash out.

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

If by gentrification you are referring to changing demographics (to include racial and socioeconomic) and the amenities that arrive to suit new tastes, then I say Bed Stuy will never be Park Slope . . . Fort Greene is much more likely. There are many black brownstone owners who refuse to sell their properties and view Bed Stuy as their home base. And so long as increasing rents make it likely to make good rental income, I don't see this changing. And, quite frankly, I prefer the diversity of Fort Greene to Park Slope in any case.

But, boy, things have changed in Bed Stuy. I can recall growing up in Bed Stuy when the first non black family moved onto our street (this was in the mid 1990s); they were Puerto Rican. This was big news.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by Shoshanarose

When I worked on Ralph Avenue in Bed Stuy in the early to mid-2000's I never saw another white person the whole year I worked there. Seriously.
People used to speak to me in Spanish, because - as a white person - I think they assumed I MUST be Puerto Rican if I was in that neighborhood!

That's pretty amusing!

Note, even in Prospect Heights the change has been drastic. When we moved into the neighborhood from Bed Stuy in 1999, I could count one one hand the number of white people I'd see in the neighborhood on a given day. The neighborhood (with the exception of some of the streets bordering Park Slope) to include all of Underhill and the overwhelming majority of Vanderbilt Avenue was overwhelmingly black with a sizable Hispanic (mainly Puerto Rican) population and an even smaller Bangledeshi population in the NE corner of the neighborhood. Today, the opposite is true. I see very few black people in the neighborhood. On our block alone, we are only one of a handful of remaining black families, which as I mentioned above represents a major departure from days past.

As I have stated multiple times, I don't give a damn the racial background of where I live, but I have been grateful of the improved safety in the neighborhood as certain bad elements (I had to deal with gangs and gangbangers harassing those of us on the block for years) were priced out. On the other hand, seeing many good-natured (who were the bulk of the area . . . a few bad apples made it hell for all sometimes) friends and relatives get priced out was painful.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by BBMW

Most of those black brownstoners you talk about are likely originals (bought back in the bad old days when those brownstones were cheap), and are probably quite old. They may not sell (themselves) but at some point they will die off. When they do, what are their heirs going to do with the properties? a good %, likely a majority, will sell to cash out.

Some are old, but in my experience many of their children also hold similar views; and many of their children have had the properties passed down to them already.

Some do and have sold their properties (to include original owners and descendants), but way more are holding on than some anticipated I think.

If these properties didn't promise good rental income (hell, in many of these properties, you can get 3-4 full floor apartments out of them), I think we'd already see a much larger selloff. But they remain very lucrative properties for many.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by Jay443

Bed stuy is still ratchet. Long way to go for what you are talking. There are of course some nice houses and quiet streets but once you leave your house the streets are ratchet IMO.

Bed Stuy is huge. Some parts are like what you described. Other parts not so much.

[Shoshanarose]

Originally Posted by Foamposite

If you want to buy a house there, it is expensive. The Asian money in that neighborhood has caused housing prices to go way up.

Right, but a HOUSE anywhere in NYC is expensive.
Apartments aren't expensive in Bensonhurst

[Foamposite]

Originally Posted by Shoshanarose

Right, but a HOUSE anywhere in NYC is expensive.
Apartments aren't expensive in Bensonhurst

The Chinese have made those houses extra expensive. They're pretty expensive considering how far from Manhattan they are, and the architecture is nothing special.

And the rents are getting consistently more expensive everywhere. Working class people will not be able to afford it if the trend continues.

[jad2k]

Originally Posted by Jay443

Bed stuy is still ratchet. Long way to go for what you are talking. There are of course some nice houses and quiet streets but once you leave your house the streets are ratchet IMO.

Spoken like a person who hasn’t been to the neighborhood in years.

It will be like Ft Greene- and sooner than you think. Some of Bed Stuy is already indistinguishable from Ft Greene. But if your only exposure to BS is Fulton St (which yea, I’d say has the feeling of “ratchetness”) or the areas around the projects, then you don’t know the neighborhood.

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by UrbanQuest

Not sure if it has been asked before, but here you go.

Do you think Bed Stuy will ultimately become like
Park Slope? If so what would your guess be for demographics?
To graduate from gentrified to yuppyville whites would have to
make up at least 50% of the population. IMO

It's going to taken longer simply because Bed-Stuy is one of the largest neighborhoods in Brooklyn by land area.

[OyCrumbler]

When people talk about Fort Greene, they’re usually talking about quaint brownstone Fort Greene, but the fact of the matter is a huge portion of the population lives in housing projects in the northern part of Fort Greene. Park Slope has zero housing projects, just proximity to some and Bed-Stuy is a massive neighborhood that runs a gamut. There’s been a large hasidic increase in the northwestern parts of Bed-Stuy and a lot of transplant gentrification on the western and southern part of Bed-Stuy and that’s the part that’s grown as an extension of gentrified brownstone Brooklyn. The most recent trend is that the northern part of Bed-Stuy is also seeing a bit of gentrification and that’s through a younger crowd that’s been growing with North Brooklyn Williamsburg and Bushwick.

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

When people talk about Fort Greene, they’re usually talking about quaint brownstone Fort Greene, but the fact of the matter is a huge portion of the population lives in housing projects in the northern part of Fort Greene. Park Slope has zero housing projects, just proximity to some and Bed-Stuy is a massive neighborhood that runs a gamut. There’s been a large hasidic increase in the northwestern parts of Bed-Stuy and a lot of transplant gentrification on the western and southern part of Bed-Stuy and that’s the part that’s grown as an extension of gentrified brownstone Brooklyn. The most recent trend is that the northern part of Bed-Stuy is also seeing a bit of gentrification and that’s through a younger crowd that’s been growing with North Brooklyn Williamsburg and Bushwick.

Very good for bringing this up.