Development Potential in Carroll Gardens, New York

In the1990s, a few trendy restaurants staked their claim on Smith Street and since then similar establishments have opened, making Smith Street a popular destination for sophisticated restaurant goers from all over New York City. The success of Smith Street has spread to Court Street, where new retail establishments have replaced some of the family-owned stores that had been passed down from generation to generation.

During the summer of 2005, 124 condominiums at the Court Street Lofts, 505 Court Street on the corner of Huntington Street, were put on the market for prices ranging from $475,000 to $825,000. The 10-story former commercial building had been converted to apartments more than 12 years ago.

Carroll Gardens borders the neighborhood of Gowanus, where industrial workers, artists, and residents coexist in what has traditionally been a manufacturing district with some modest housing.

On the other side of Carroll Gardens, between the East River and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, is the Columbia Street Waterfront District, which features quaint brick row houses, restaurants, and small shops. A new, 13-unit condominium development, Carroll Gardens West, is under construction at 71 Carroll Street at Columbia Street with prices ranging from $475,000 to $1.8 million. In September 2005, the City's Department of Transportation announced that the City would begin reconstructing Columbia Street, which runs parallel to the waterfront. In addition, local leaders in Carroll Gardens are proposing a housing/school complex for the Columbia Street Waterfront District.

Sources: The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Yale University Press, New Haven and London; An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn, Gibbs-Smith Publisher, Salt Lake City; www.gowanus.org; www.swbidc.org; New York Times, November 28, 2005; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 10, 2005, July 6, 2005; September 26, 2005, October, 14, 2005, November 3, 2005; November 29, 2005.