Photo via WinterFest at Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn is getting a new winter festival and market this holiday season full of family-fun events, shopping, wine and beer tastings, and more. Dubbed WinterFest, the pop-up will take over 40,000 square feet of outdoor space at the Brooklyn Museum from Nov. 23 to Dec. 3 and feature more than 50 holiday-decorated wooden chalets with local crafts and handmade gifts inside.
The historic Elkins House at 1375 Dean Street, an 1850s wood-frame home in Crown Heights, is officially the neighborhood’s oldest house–and you can rent one of its duplex units from January to April of 2019 for $9,250 a month. The landmarked wood-frame building has been completely renovated with 2,033 square feet of living space including five bedrooms (two with private balconies) and a private top-floor deck. The home’s newly-converted condos were last seen on the market last spring, with two duplex units–including this one–asking $2.3 and $2.7 million.
Weeksville’s historic Hunterfly Road Houses via Wiki Commons
After the state of New York State abolished slavery in 1827, the country’s second-largest free black community was established in Brooklyn. Known as Weeksville, today the neighborhood falls a bit under the radar, surrounded by more sought-after neighborhoods like Crown Heights and Bed Stuy. But it’s a charming little enclave, lined with many two-family homes and small brick rowhouses, that has done well to preserve its history. And just down the street from the Weeksville Heritage Center is a new 10-unit rental building at 1520 Prospect Place that just opened an affordable housing lottery for three $2,098/month one-bedrooms.
Via Run With Scissors on Flickr
Every Labor Day, millions of people gather in Brooklyn to celebrate Caribbean culture at the West Indian-American Day Carnival. Since the early 20th century, the Carnival, which first got its start in the United States in Harlem, has brought together New Yorkers through beautiful costumes, music, dance and food of the West Indies. Starting in the 1960s, the festival has taken over Crown Heights‘ Eastern Parkway, uniting many islands (Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Haiti, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and Grenda, Guyana, Suriname and Belize and others) through one extravagant party. As one of New York City’s largest, and certainly most colorful, events, the Carnival should not be missed. Ahead, learn about the history of the parade, the traditions that thrive to this day and the details of this year’s festival.
Tennis courts at Lincoln Terrace Park, via NYC Parks
Just 10 days ago, an affordable housing lottery opened across from the Lincoln Terrace/ Arthur S. Somers Park in Crown Heights. These units are available to households earning 60 percent of the area median income, but a new lottery right around the corner will provide middle-income New Yorkers the opportunity to get into the neighborhood, too. As of today, those earning 130 percent of the area median income can apply for six apartments at 1764 Union Street, a new, boutique rental building just two blocks from the 3, 4, and 5 trains at Utica Avenue. The units up for grabs range from an $1,800/month studio to $2,500/month two-bedrooms, and residents will have easy access to the park’s two tennis courts, two playgrounds, basketball and handball courts, baseball field, and beautiful wooded lawns.
Photo of Lincoln Terrace via NYC Parks
Located across from the Lincoln Terrace/ Arthur S. Somers Park in Crown Heights, a newly constructed building has 10 affordable apartments up for grabs. New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the apartments, which include $938/month studios, $1,080/month one-bedrooms and $1,223/month two-bedrooms. In addition to being across from 21 acres of public park, the rental at 24 Ford Street also features a fitness center, lounge, a bike room, and parking.
For the many house-hunters seeking a townhouse in Crown Heights, this $3.5 million Colonial Revival mansion at 190 New York Avenue is a fine example of the neighborhood’s grand history. The area known as the St. Marks District was, at the turn of the 19th century, home to many of the borough’s wealthiest residents, with streets lined with large free-standing or semi-detached homes like this one. This four-story townhouse measures an unusually large 30 feet by 59 feet on a 109-foot lot. Inside are 14 rooms including seven bedrooms, seven fireplaces and a master bedroom that’s blessed with a terrace. And here’s a fun fact–according to the listing, a one-time tenant was the prolific singer and actress Ethel Waters
Bedford Union Armory Redevelopment, rendering by JM Zoning via NY Yimby.
Last November, 6sqft reported that the proposed Bedford-Union Armory Crown Heights redevelopment project had begun a land use application evaluation process before the City Council, submitted by BFC Partners and the nonprofit NYC Economic Development Corporation, who intend to jointly develop the massive armory that was once housing for the National Guard. Though permits filed four months ago for a fifteen-story building are still pending approval, New York Yimby reports that new renderings have been revealed for the residential portion of the project. As planned, Marvel Architects is responsible for the design.
Historic Hunterfly Road Houses via the Brooklyn Historical Society
It’s a mighty sounding moniker, but the name “King’s County” also speaks to Brooklyn’s less-than-democratic origins. At the turn of the 19th century, the city of Brooklyn was known as the “slaveholding capital” of New York State and was home to the highest concentration of enslaved people north of the Mason-Dixon Line. But, after New York State abolished slavery in 1827, free black professionals bought land in what is now Crown Heights and founded Weeksville, a self-supporting community of African American Freedman, which grew to become the second-largest free black community in Antebellum America. By 1855, over 520 free African Americans lived in Weeksville, including some of the leading activists in the Abolitionist and Equal Suffrage movements.
Tennis courts at Lincoln Terrace Park, via NYC Parks
Right across the street from Crown Heights‘ Lincoln Terrace/Arthur S. Somers Park, a new affordable housing opportunity has come online. Ten units at the newly built rental 12 Ford Street are available to New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income, ranging from $822/month studios to $1,070/month two-bedrooms. In addition to building amenities including a bike room, laundry, on-site parking, roof terrace, and fitness center, the park offers baseball and football fields, handball, basketball, and tennis courts, playgrounds, water features, dog runs, and outdoor exercise equipment. Plus, the park is in the midst of a $4 million renovation which will only enhance this value.
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