The moving boundaries of Prospect Heights unsettles Crown Heights residents, as realtors and landlords look to capitalize on development
In central Brooklyn, condominiums materialize and businesses open as if the housing slump and economic downturn were idle rumors. The Collection Apartments, four new buildings, have taken over a block on Pacific Street, just east of Washington Avenue. That’s Crown Heights traditionally, but these condominiums are marketed as Prospect Heights.
Two blocks further east of Washington Avenue, Candy Rush opened recently on Franklin Avenue. That’s Crown Heights, but write-ups said the store was in Prospect Heights. Recent real estate listings identified Franklin Avenue, rather than Washington Avenue, as the border between Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. And some listings called the few blocks between Washington Avenue and Franklin Avenue “ProCro.”
Neighborhood nicknames pop up regularly in the city of New York, and confusion over the border may be a passing or harmless side effect of development. But it could be something else. Calling Crown Heights areas Prospect Heights could drive up rents and housing prices in those areas, pushing out residents and businesses that can no longer afford their homes or spaces.
After community uproar over realtors and landlords playing loose with the border, and the unsolicited nickname “ProCro,” local politicians responded by introducing a bill in the New York State Assembly to protect the integrity of neighborhoods.
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, introduced the Neighborhood Integrity Act in May. Jeffries represents Assembly District 57, which includes Prospect Heights and Crown Heights.
If passed, the legislation would prohibit realtors from renaming, redesignating, or reconstituting a “traditionally recognized neighborhood” or its boundaries, except through an official process with input from community boards. The bill defined “traditionally recognized neighborhoods” as those officially recognized by at least one community board.
Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Democrat, co-sponsored the bill and represents Crown Heights as part of Assembly District 43. He acknowledged that sometimes neighborhood nicknames just happen, but, he said, “when it is realtors, realtors change the name of a neighborhood for the sake of profit motives.”
Prospect Heights is currently considered more developed, and thus more desirable, than Crown Heights in terms of amenities like restaurants, cafes, and shops. That desirability translates into premiums; Prospect Heights is more expensive than Crown Heights. By calling a Crown Heights location Prospect Heights, realtors or landlords can charge more — deceiving prospective residents and businesses as to where they are, pricing existing residents and businesses out of the community, whether intentionally or unwittingly.
The window of James Enterprise Realty, a local realtor on Classon Avenue, illustrated the price differential, or artificial inflation, that results from the practice of confusing Crown Heights with Prospect Heights. Fliers in the window advertised five rental apartments on Classon Avenue as Prospect Heights, with rents starting from $1,325. One apartment listed as Crown Heights was $925. Classon Avenue runs between Washington Avenue and Franklin Avenue, right in the disputed area.
Garnett Alcindor, 32, opened Candy Rush a month ago in the building her fiance Kevin Phillip has owned for the last 10 years. She related how some had suggested that Phillip increase the rent for a space from $1,700 to $2,300 based on the perceived desirability of the area as Prospect Heights. He refused.
Alcindor has been in Crown Heights for four years and has strong ties to the community as a resident and business owner. She supports the bill introduced by Jeffries. Not just an issue of money, she explained what was in a name for Crown Heights.
“I’ve watched the people in this community work really hard at taking it from ground zero to a place that now makes everyone want to move into and buy and have businesses,” said Alcindor. “Don’t take the name away from them. For you to take the name, you take away the history.”
For Alcindor, the growth of the area was about community efforts to revitalize where its people live and work; focusing on “gentrification” was missing the point. It wasn’t simply “gentrification,” as some see in condominiums going up. It was revitalization that spurred the changes, making the area more attractive to “gentrifiers” as well as realtors looking to capitalize on the changes.
“You can’t blame people who are moving into the neighborhood” looking for more affordable and livable areas, Alcindor said. “You blame the landlords, not the people.”
Dominique Leftwich, too, welcomed the changes. Now 18, Leftwich has lived at Washington Avenue and St. Mark’s Avenue since kindergarten and knew her whereabouts as Crown Heights.
“I remember when Franklin Avenue used to be, honestly, horrible, nowhere near what it is now,” she said. “And Washington Avenue, it wasn’t really all that bad, but it wasn’t as many shops as it is now.”
Leftwich currently works at Coffee Bites, which opened on Washington Avenue a year ago, with Prospect Heights as its location on its business card and in online reviews.
Damien Sherman, area resident since 2000 and a server at Abigail Cafe and Wine Bar on Classon Avenue, welcomed changes such as more businesses and increased safety, but criticized rents going up.
“I know couple of families that had to move because of the rent hike,” Sherman said, “and it’s not right.” And to him, the area was Crown Heights.
According to Camara, some real estate brokers have already agreed to not engage in the practices targeted by the bill. Corcoran, a real estate company in Brooklyn and Manhattan, recently changed its listing location of The Prospect, a condominium building on Classon Avenue, from Prospect Heights to Crown Heights. A press release from Jeffries’ District Office confirmed that Corcoran CEO Pamela Liebman acknowledged their error.
But for realtors not so inclined, the Neighborhood Integrity Act would prohibit such practices. The goal of legislation, Camara said, was not to subject realtors to fines or license revocations — written into the bill in current form — but to establish practices that respect the neighborhood and the residents.
The bill, which has been referred to the Committee on Local Governments in the Assembly, must move through the Committee next January to be considered by the Assembly and then the Senate. The process could take one legislative session or years.
For now, residents have their strong feelings to fight any unwelcome side effects of revitalization and continued development.
“People call it Crown Heights, Franklin Square, Prospect Heights,” said Lily Olufunmi Johnson-Dibia, waving her hand behind the counter at Lily and Fig Bakery, which she opened in July 2009 on Franklin Avenue. “It’s Crown Heights.”
As for “ProCro,” it follows the trend of calling parts of Harlem “SoHa” or South Bronx “SoBro,” or “BoCoCa” for an area near Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens. Other neighborhood nicknames have stuck, as in SoHo and TriBeCa.
Leftwich hadn’t heard of “ProCro,” but quickly surmised what might be at play.
“It sounds like more advertising than what people usually know as Crown Heights,” she said, to avoid association with the negative image of Crown Heights in the easternmost areas such as Utica Avenue.
Alcindor was of similar mind. Carving out a different identity for Crown Heights north of Eastern Parkway from south of Eastern Parkway could make properties look more attractive.
“I’m thinking maybe that’s what they’re trying to do, because when you cross Eastern Parkway, that Crown Heights is different,” she said, meaning less safe and less developed south of Eastern Parkway.
Despite sympathy for realtors, Alcindor was not into their reorganizing neighborhoods and making up nicknames.
“Stop it already,” she said.
Leave a Reply