Crown Heights, Brooklyn

Crown Heights, Brooklyn’s real estate crown jewel

And home to more single family, turn of the century townhouse mansions than any other neighborhood in the borough.  Neither Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights possess the variety in architecture found in every corner of this neighborhood.

Since 1996, Crown Heights has been experiencing a real estate renaissance of sorts with the land marked Crown Heights North Historic District and a slated review of a second phase for annexation.

Still, much of the story about this neighborhood is yet to be told.  For what seems to have been a defining moment, the Crown Heights Riot of 1991 no longer carries the stigma it once did as people from all races and ethnicity discover its beauty and charm.

The Lay of the Land

Today, Crown Heights can best be thought of as a neighborhood bounding 3 communities: Crown Heights North, Weeksville and Crown Heights South.

(Prospect Heights for a long time was thought to be part of Crown Heights, but began to carve out it’s own identity in the late 1980′s when Gentrification began moving South along Washington Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue from Clinton Hill and Fort Greene)

Crown Heights North is bounded by Franklin Avenue to its West **, Atlantic Avenue to its North, Eastern Parkway to its South and Schenectady Avenue to its East.  (**NP Editors Note: NostrandPark actually regards the western border of Crown Heights as the traditional, pre-gentrification Washington Avenue, though we acknowledge that this is a debatable subject).

Weeksville is bounded by Schenectady Avenue to its West, Atlantic Avenue to its North, Buffalo Avenue to its East and Eastern Parkway to it’s South.

Crown Heights South is bounded by Eastern Parkway to its North, Rochester Avenue to its East, Empire Boulevard/East New York Avenue to its South and Washington Avenue to its West.

Crown Heights has 3 zip codes: 11216 (largely in the North), 11225 (exclusively in the South) and 11213 (shared in both the North and South ends of the neighborhood).  (**NP Editor’s Note: We’d add 11238)

In Crown Heights North…

There were no recorded sales for any 1-4 family residential properties or mixed use properties.  This isn’t uncommon as most of activity in this part of the neighborhood is being seen in the walk-up multi-family apartment buildings.

In Crown Heights South…

There were 3 residential sales, all of which were condominiums:

555 Crown Street

Unit 3F @ 555 Crown Street, a 3BR 2.5 Bath condo unit in a pre-war elevator building, closed on Jan. 8, 2010 for $400,000.  The unit was originally purchased February 1988 for $75,000.

580 Crown Street

2 Units sold in this recently constructed condo development at 580 Crown Street.

• Unit #004, a 1,070 sq ft unit, closed on Jan. 6th 2010 for $340,000
• Unit #304, a 1,680 sq ft unit, closed on Jan. 19th 2010 for $535,000

In Weeksville…

There was 1 recorded sale for a 2 family brick property at 1440 Park Place.  However, 4 different homeowners since 1993 have had difficulty keeping this property from being foreclosed on by several different lenders.

On June 12, 2008, HSBC Bank USA executed its judgment by seizing the property at an auction held at 360 Adams Street, purchasing it for the balance owed plus penalties, fees and arrears totaling $427,326.  The property was listed for sale in March 2009, asking $279,900.

1440 Park Place

The sale for 1440 Park Place closed on Jan. 6th 2010 for $260,000 to an investor group incorporated under the name of the property’s address.

February’s Real Estate Forecast

Crown Heights will continue to experience slower sales throughout the neighborhood due to the city wide foreclosure crisis.

Weeksville will see better sales activity over CH North/South as the year progress due to foreclosure inventory turnover from fire sales conducted by bank REO departments.  As a result, homeowners there will suffer severe equity erosion in home values.

So you have a standing invitation, same time next month, to find out how it all went down in Crown Heights Real Estate Roundup.

And don’t be afraid to post comments and questions here…after all, if you live here or seriously considering doing so, then here’s where you’ll find out what’s happening on the HOME front.  In fact, if you’re like me and don’t trust your memory, subscribe to NostrandPark.com and get EVERYTHING Crown Heights emailed to you throughout the week.

P.S. – before I forget, don’t miss this month’s upcoming CHRE Focus: Renting in Crown Heights

About the Author: Michael Corley is the publisher of MyBrooklynReport.com, a forum about Brooklyn neighborhoods, its Opportunities and the Politics of Real Estate in NYC, a Real Estate Broker and a resident of Crown Heights South for 12 years.

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