Is The Housing Boom Coming to Ridgewood?
First it was Williamsburg, then Greenpoint, then Bushwick. Is Ridgewood next? It’s on the L line, a prerequisite for catching the spillover from the more in-demand neighborhoods to the west. According to brokers and developers in an article in The Real Deal, more and more people squeezed out of those popular and increasingly expensive neighborhoods…
First it was Williamsburg, then Greenpoint, then Bushwick. Is Ridgewood next? It’s on the L line, a prerequisite for catching the spillover from the more in-demand neighborhoods to the west. According to brokers and developers in an article in The Real Deal, more and more people squeezed out of those popular and increasingly expensive neighborhoods are heading for this once obscure section of Queens. The median sales price in the second quarter of this year in Ridgewood was $400,000, up 14 percent over the same period last year. One realtor told The Real Deal, ‘”We have people come into our office on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg and now we can turn them on to a property in Ridgewood. Before, that would have been impossible — now it’s relatively easy.'” Rents too are on the rise here as they are across the city. Ridgewood is now home to a burgeoning art scene. The gallery, Famous Accountants, opened in 2009 in the basement of the building where industrial noise musician Genesis P. Orridge lived until 2010. The co-founder of Galapagos Art Space has a gallery here. Restaurants and bars have followed. However, the kind of development that has transformed Williamsburg and Long Island City and is getting a foothold in Bushwick is unlikely here. Those neighborhoods had open waterfront or large industrial buildings for developers to convert or knock down to make way for large residential projects. Ridgewood has few of these buildings and lots of intact, and well looked after residential real estate — apartment buildings as well as townhosues. To the extent that there will a boom here, it may be one without the crush of development that has been such a large and controversial part of recent changes in Queens and Brooklyn. What have you seen happening in Ridgewood? Do you think Corcoran going to open an office there soon?
Is Ridgewood the Next Williamsburg? [The Real Deal]
Photo: LPC via City Land
Majority of Ridgewood buildings are in Historic Districts and National Register Historic Districts. The zoning is currently for low-rise buildings unless the city decide to change it. I don’t see much new developments here except more renovations.
Where in Ridgewood is a good spot to start looking for a 2family? I dont know the area
I remember the first time that I walked through Ridgewood, it was sort of on a whim, during a longer amble around the borough on a nice summer afternoon. I was kind of blown away…block after block of beautifully-preserved Matthews Model Flats, some great old commercial architecture (including a Rite-Aid tucked into a beautiful old bank building), busy streets, and a couple of drop-dead gorgeous old churches. There’s a one-block historic district, too, on Stockholm Street just south of the cemetery. It will be really interesting to see how the area evolves; it’s got a ton of character.
After 6 years in Fort Greene we just bought in Ridgewood. Our dream was to be in Bed-Stuy but crazy as it sounds, were priced out. We found a spacious, newly renovated apartment in Ridgewood and are excited to discover a new neighborhood.