Dumbo in Media

We posted about Brooklyn Poster, the illustration of the Brooklyn Borough by Blankslate a few weeks ago. There’s a lot of details packed into the poster. We zoomed into the Dumbo/Downtown Brooklyn area above, which includes 1 Main Street (Clocktower), 306 Gold Street (Oro Condo), 343 Gold Street (Avalon Fort Greene), 150 Myrtle Ave (Toren Condo), One Hanson Place (aka Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower).

At the East River, Jane’s Carousel, kayakers from the Boathouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park, and a Water Taxi are illustrated.

For more details on Brooklyn Poster, check out brooklynposter.com.

Seven years ago in 2006, the NY Times published a Living In feature on Dumbo. Back then J Condo and Beacon Tower, the ‘skyscrapers’ of Dumbo, were not yet complete; Dumbo was not yet landmarked (until December 2007); and the naming of Dumbo was not documented (until we published the story on how Dumbo got its name in May 2007).

The NY Times revisits Dumbo with another Living In feature on Dumbo this week. What remains the same today is that Dumbo is still “one of the most expensive and sought-after loft districts in New York“, “the pace of development has not slowed”, workers/residents are still wishing for more food and grocery choices, and Karen Hyman of Sotheby’s Realty and Katherine Camp of Elliman are still selling a lot of lofts.

You can read the article, but here are a few of the descriptions about Dumbo from the feature:

• On development: “Over the last 15 years, residential development has swept from west to east through this tiny Brooklyn loft district anchored by the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges”
• Dumbo’s residential population: 3,000 residents
• On Dumbo’s old sidewalk vaults and tracks: “These holes have since been covered and the rough edges smoothed. The area, no longer rugged, has become almost quaint, with old train tracks in uneven Belgian-block streets.”
• On Dumbo’s home prices: “It’s also much pricier.”
• On Dumbo’s new creatives: “Residents say few artists live here now, but the area continues to attract a creative, if more entrepreneurial, class. And a concentration of Internet and technology firms has led the city to designate the area as one leg of a Brooklyn “Tech Triangle.””
• Dumbo’s feeling: “Dumbo is smaller and has the feel of a village, where people get to know one another…Dumbo happens to be a very sticky neighborhood, insofar as people stay here.” Jared Della Valle, “People move from building to building; they upgrade their apartments each time; and their kids stay in the same schools.”
• Dumbo’s tourists: “The area has long been a magnet for film crews and fashion photographers, attracted by its bridges, views and postindustrial landscape.”
• Dumbo’s newer rental buildings: “Most recently, Two Trees has converted some of the area’s older buildings, 25 and 30 Washington Street, into rentals, and is laying the foundation for a 17-story rental tower, called the Dock Street project.”
• Dumbo’s newer condos: 185 Plymouth, 192 Water, 205 Water
• Dumbo’s inventory: “Inventory is very tight: only about 17 to 20 homes are on the market, at some of the highest prices in Brooklyn”
• Price per square foot: “For a standard condominium, the range per square foot is $950 to $1,000, but over all, units can cost as little as $850 a square foot, or as much as $1,400.”
• Rental costs: “one-bedrooms range from about $3,000 to $3,200 a month, though units with home offices can rent for as much as $5,000. Two-bedrooms generally command $4,500 to $6,500 a month; three-bedrooms cost $7,000 and up.”
• What to do: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Smorgasburg, art galleries and boutiques, restaurants and cafes.
• Food options include: newcomer Atrium at 15 Main Street, Foragers market, Peas & Pickles market
• Commute: F train, A, C, 2, 3 trains. But many people also cycle (there are Citi Bike racks throughout Dumbo) or take the East River Ferry or the New York Water Taxi.
• Schools: “Dumbo proper has no public schools, though it is zoned for Public School 8 Robert Fulton in Brooklyn Heights, which is popular with many Dumbo parents and also houses a middle school.”
• A school in Dumbo: “It will be at least two years before Dumbo acquires its first public school: a 300-seat middle school, scheduled to open either in 2015 or 2016 as part of the Dock Street project.”

There’s also a photo slideshow of places around Dumbo.

{Living In Dumbo Brooklyn, 27Aug2013}

Previously:
{Living In Dumbo Brooklyn, 22Oct2006}
{Living In Brooklyn Heights, 22Jan2010}
{Living In Vinegar Hill Brooklyn, 05Mar2010}
{Living In Downtown Brooklyn, 17May2012}

Previously on DumboNYC:
{NY Times: So Much to See in NYC But Make a Stop in Dumbo, 10Jun2007}
{NY Times on Dumbo: From Afterthought to Sought-After22Oct2006}