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We're apartment hunting and we're looking for a place within 15 minutes away (via subway) to the financial district in lower manhattan.
We came across some condo's in an area called downtown brooklyn. A few friends are convincing us not to live there since they call the area "shady."
Would anyone be kind enough to opine on this? We're looking at areas very close to the "Lawrence St" station on the R/M line or the "Hoyt St" station on the 2/3 line. The location is perfect but of course, we would still like to be able to take walks around the neighborhood.
Thanks so much. Any comments/input would be greatly appreciated.
The area is gentrified and many of your neighbors will be professionals who work in manhattan. There are all the amenities that any yuppie could want nearby and the nabe is genuinely "nice". With that said, you will have to walk past a crazy homeless man with his shirt and shoes off and his shopping cart stacked high with all sorts of refuse at some point. There will be panhandlers, there will be single moms with too many unruly children passing through, there will be drug addicts shuffling around....but all of this stuff is common to any urban envionrment and that includes manhattan's choicest neighborhoods.
It's not bad at all. We live on the border of Boerum Hill/Downtown Brooklyn and I work in Downtown Brooklyn (Court Street).
There is some sketchiness - nearby Fulton Street, the main shopping drag, is pretty ghetto but on the other hand is also one of the most profitable shopping areas in the nation. You will be a few blocks northwest of Trader Joe's at Atlantic and Court, and a few blocks north of Smith Street, which has a lot of great restaurants. Transportation is extremely convenient to Manhattan.
I am now always leery of the term "shady" when applied to a NYC neighborhood,especially in this forum.
Years of experience has taught me that it more often than not refers to changing demographics of a neighborhood and has little to do with crime rates or general livability.It usually implies that there are too many people of a darker skin tone for someone's comfort.
I am now always leery of the term "shady" when applied to a NYC neighborhood,especially in this forum.
Years of experience has taught me that it more often than not refers to changing demographics of a neighborhood and has little to do with crime rates or general livability.It usually implies that there are too many people of a darker skin tone for someone's comfort.
You hit the nail on the head with that reply. Many people say this about several neighborhoods in NYC with out even visiting them. People slam Washington Heights, Clinton Hill, Canarsie etc. Downtown Brooklyn and the Fulton Street Mall are not a warzone. Just because a different culture is dominant there does not mean it is sketchy or ghetto. The sound of hip hop being played around the stores on Fulton Street does not imply crime is prevalent. Most of the stores Fulton Street are geared for the young people of NYC so of course they play hip hop because the vast majority of young people in NYC listen to hip hop. Trust me if you are middle or upper class you can go to downtown Brooklyn and you will not be attacked on sight. Use common sense as you would anywhere else in America.
What a graet forum this is. Thanks so much for all your input. Right after I posted this yesterday, I took the train back to downtown Brooklyn to get a feel for what it's like on the weekends. I also found it to be quite a "lovely" neighborhood. A lot of the tenants in the nicer condo buildings all look "hip" and were mostly all young professionals.
I have decided that this would be a great place for us to live in for the next few years. I simply could not justify paying over $700K for a small 850 sqft apt on the upper west side.
I am glad you checked out the neighborhood for yourself and will now be saving some rent money. I also commend you for not being scared off by some people opinions of a neighborhood. Always check the area out for yourself. In NYC neighborhoods change like the seasons. I was born and raised in NYC but I will still check out a neighborhood that I haven't been to in years before I move into it.
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