THE FOURTH AWAKENS
New development is pushing a once-industrial Brooklyn stretch toward a residential future
ights l ke a a on and McDonald’ made any r p down Brooklyn’ Four Avenue wor for e n . Bu now, ’ fa morp n from an ndu r al n erland n o a en r fy n — and de rable — re den al orou fare.
“i wa a very commerc al corr dor,” recall Brendan A uayo, en or v ce pre den and mana - n d rec or of hal ead Proper y Developmen Marke n (hPDM), of four-lane r p loca ed near c ld ood ome. “Au o-body op , manufac ur n , fa -food place ,” e ay , l ned e avenue a connec ou -af er area , nclud n Boerum h ll, Park slope and gowanu , and con nue ou o Bay R d e.
today, a rek from Pac f c s ree down o 19 s ree ll ow race of a r y pa ; you pa a a on , car wa e and few ree . Bu al o reveal muc of w a ’ arr ved nce: a a le of r zy re den al bu ld n . For n ance, a 150 Four Ave. and in ra a Park slope — a 12- ory br ck-and- la ren al, w ere a one-bedroom w an open k c en and wa er/dryer a k $3,400. Meanw le, ere’ e Ce raRuddy-de ned 202 E s . ren al, near Four Avenue, w ere a one-bedroom apar men w comparable fea ure l ed for $2,807. tenan can al o e e e perk a e br ck-clad 278 s x s . bu ld n , w ere a onebedroom wan $2,900 per mon .
t ere’ far more o come. scaffold urround a number of for com n developmen up and down e avenue, nclud n a e former C urc of e Redeemer, a demol on e near Barclay Cen er a p e ell t e Po w ll ve way o a condom n um. Al o on e way e ODAde ned 251 F r s . — a 44-un condo a ’ one of n ne new area developmen hPDM marke - n — w ere pr ce be n nor of $1 m ll on.
From Pac f c s ree down ome 30 block o sou slope, and on e de ree mmed a ely urround n e avenue, a w opp n 26 bu ld n are now n e developmen p pel ne, accord n o hPDM all e , w c w ll flood e area w rou ly 1,400 un w en comple ed. All ac v y em from a r o of rezon n
From 4TH AVE. on Page 41 between 1994 and 2005. In their wake, developers seized opportunities to build in this untapped area, rightly anticipating residents would want easy access to prime nabes and new construction.
“I felt a brand-new rental could be a very attractive thing for the neighborhood,” says Miki Naftali of the Naftali Group, which developed Landmark Park Slope — a glassy 2013-opened, 104-unit rental that runs alongside Fourth Avenue. This 12-story building has a roof deck with Manhattan views, a residents’ lounge, a gym and homes with floor-to-ceiling windows. “I realized that [New Yorkers] want to live in the neighborhood, but are looking for modern living with great amenities. It was a no-brainer.”
It’s not just a matter of improving the avenue’s aesthetics by constructing elegant buildings with luxe residences — though, honestly, that helps. Over the past several years, developers have targeted this Fourth Avenue corridor simply for what’s nearby. For instance, area transportation is pretty good; the northern end of the avenue opens up to the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center transit hub, where the Long Island Rail Road and nine subway lines pass through, with additional train stations located down Fourth.
“You have a huge hub of commuter lines. You’re not detached,” says Claudia Caicedo, an agent at Triumph Property Group — a co-exclusive brokerage leasing apartments at the 17-unit 546-548 Fourth Ave. rental, where prices start at $3,600 for a twobedroom.
Major Brooklyn attractions were an even bigger lure.
“Barclays Center was a big driver for us looking at that area,” says Omri Sachs, co-founder of Adam America Real Estate — a firm that’s developing seven sites in the zone, some of which are joint ventures. Among their buildings are the 27-unit 577 Baltic St. and the 70-unit 595 Baltic St. rentals — both just off Fourth Avenue — that should launch leasing shortly. There’s also the avenue-adjacent 31-unit 610 Warren St. condo where rising design star Paris Forino handled interiors and prices begin at $960,000. “We knew there was going to over the last decade. Closed condo sales down Fourth Avenue now average $1,101 per square foot — up 4.1 percent from last year, but a 57.1 percent jump from a $701 average in 2007, HPDM data shows. That makes for a good property investment, and that’s what encouraged Adam Edrington, manager of operations at real-estate brokerage Compass, and his marketingmanager girlfriend Ashley Binford to buy a light-filled one-bedroom condo between Fourth and Fifth avenues over the summer.
“Our broker told us there’s a lot of development going on along Fourth Avenue . . . and it would help the value of the apartment,” Binford says of their home, which is located in an older building.
Reality (the never-ending construction sites!) has confirmed the avenue’s upward trend. “When you look at it now, you see what the potential can be,” says Edrington.
Of course, like in any up-and-coming district, not everything is perfect. Fourth Avenue itself could benefit from additional retail. There’s a noticeable row of vacant storefronts between St. Marks Place and Bergen Street. Farther down, a taxi depot and a U-Haul location are as unsightly as they are hard to miss. But, per zoning requirements, new developments are required to include ground-level retail, which will help fill in the holes.
“[Retail] really helps the neighborhood become a pedestrianfriendly community, not just a bunch of buildings that happen to be near each other,” says Michael Stern, whose JDS Development Group is responsible for the Fourth Avenueadjacent 44-unit Baltic, which will have roughly 5,500 square feet of retail.
This isn’t to say the area is desolate; some choice offerings line or surround the stretch. The Whole Foods Market on Third Avenue has been a huge plus since it opened in 2013. The Rock Shop and Mission Dolores are neighboring Fourth Avenue bars off the Union Street R station. Folks can also drink up at Threes Brewing, which stands just off Fourth, or grab a bite at the roomy — and delicious — Dinosaur Bar-B-Que three blocks south.
But as anyone can imagine, all the real estate buzz results in literal buzzing.
“There’s a lot of noise,” says Renato Poliafito, co-founder of the bakery Baked, who shares a two-bedroom Fourth Avenue-facing condo with his partner, Sven Wiedmann, and enjoys being near the Gowanus arts scene. “They’re building an additional two floors on the [building] next door, and the beeping of the cranes they’re using is relentless. You try to drown it out, but I think it’s a side effect of living in NYC.”
That’s the price of living in a burgeoning nabe. Go Fourth and prosper!