Luxury developments are crowding out Brooklyn’s hipster paradise
Maria Rivera-Diaz is living on the edge.
After a year occupying a co-sharing space in a centrally located Williamsburg apartment building, the 31-year-old lawyer and student recently decided to set out for the very frontier of her adopted neighborhood. When she moved from Atlanta to Williamsburg in 2019, she was looking for somewhere “cool and artsy,” Rivera-Diaz told the Post. The hipster mecca of Williamsburg, a neighborhood that was for decades synonymous with creative class culture, seemed an obvious choice.
You can live near the celebs in these star-studded NYC neighborhoods
Robert De Niro, a Greenwich village native, once said, “I go to Paris, I go to London, I go to Rome, and I always say, ‘There’s no place like New York. It’s the most exciting city in the world.’”
A lot of celebrities agree. While Los Angeles may have the bright lights and busy studios of Hollywood, a lot of A-list celebrities prefer to blend in with the bustling crowds of New York City.
Williamsburg Umbrella Factory Purchased for $23M to be Converted to Housing
SL Development bought the former umbrella factory at 722 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg for $23 million, where it plans to convert the building into 69 condominiums.
Foundation Work Underway At 535 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg
Foundation work is underway for a four-story apartment building at 535 Lorimer Street in Williamsburg. The 10-unit project, which is listed under the permit address of 539 Lorimer Street, sits within the core of the Brooklyn neighborhood, at the junction of the G and L trains.
The mid-block lot is located on the west side of the street. Zoned as R6B, the lot stretches 72 feet along the street and has a maximum depth of 100 feet. The new building replaces three wood-frame rowhomes at 535, 537, and 539 Lorimer.
Here’s what a budget under $2 million buys in the Williamsburg new condo market
In the days before Williamsburg was rezoned, the neighborhood’s relatively affordable housing costs made it a mecca for starving artists, musicians and bohemians from all walks of life. However, since the 2005 rezoning, land in Williamsburg is a hot commodity and prices have skyrocketed accordingly.
Vacant warehouses and derelict buildings have been transformed into luxury high-rises and condos, rapidly gentrifying the neighborhood and pricing out many of its longtime residents.