“Crown Heights Gets Tarnished”
Vacant Lot on Eastern Parkway Circa 1902
…or so says a recent article in the Real Deal online magazine. The article discusses current trends in the Crown Heights residential and commercial real estate markets, and it don’t sound too pretty. Quoting from the article:
“In the first quarter of this year, the total number of sales for houses, co-ops and condominiums in Crown Heights dropped to 40, compared to 75 sales for the same period in 2008, according to data from Streeteasy.com.” “The average price for a Crown Heights home dropped nearly 27 percent, from $493,700 in the first quarter of last year, to $363,114 in the first quarter of 2009.”
The article then goes on to add:
“[T]he current downturn hasn’t quelled interest in the neighborhood. But while Crown Heights still attracts plenty of house hunters, many of them can’t get financing, said Kathryn Lilly, a broker from Prudential Douglas Elliman.” “Even before the recession, the commercial strip on Nostrand Avenue north of Eastern Parkway lacked restaurants, coffee shops and other retail businesses, a source of frustration among the area’s more affluent new home buyers. In recent months, vacant storefronts have popped up along the strip, said Barbara Brown-Allen, an agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman who lives on the north side.” “‘I don’t know if it’s the recession or [retailers] don’t realize the neighborhood’s needs,’ she said. ‘People don’t realize the potential of the neighborhood. There’s a big demand for quality stores.’”
On the one hand, some of the opinions reflected in this Real Deal article dovetail on what we declared in our “Nail Salons” survey, Nostrand Avenue north lacks diversity in types of retail businesses. Still, this real-estate speculator driven perspective does little to ease tensions about negative aspects of gentrification: thoughts on which can be found regularly in the comments section over at Brownstoner. And it does even less to promote a just and sustainable model for community revitalization. We here at Nostrand Park - advocates of the glass half full school of thought – don’t believe that Crown Heights is “tarnished”. We believe that Crown Heights is currently poised to maximize its future growth and prosperity. And you can quote us on that.
Popularity: 1% [?]
The article and the reporter misses the facts and muddles the issues. The storefront vacancies are being absorbed at a rapid pace – with many storefronts on the northern end either being renovated or the spaces being negotiated for rent. Personally have observed since the time of this article, the Dunkin Doonuts on EP and Nostrand, along with T-mobile, MetroPCS store openings, and ongoing inquiries from McDonalds , Subway and Golden Krust – so both national retailers are expressing and acting on interest, along with strong multi-site merchants taking up the spots. As for the residential rental market – it is extremely strong, with most landlords and buildings having ZERO vacancies, and getting rent increases when apt vacancies come up.
Property sales are impacted by the national credit freeze/thawing process. But for those that have planted the flag, as Ms. Allen indicates, most retailers are missing out on both the newer recently puchased homesites with significant HH income, or the older/long time/ owners whose homes are occupied by a multi-generational family and as a result have a high density HH income.
Too bad that publishing deadlines prevent a more nuanced treatment of the facts that are there – just not always apparent to the casual eye.