REAL ESTATE IN PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN


REAL ESTATE

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

JAPANESE DISCOVER BROOKLYN

Up until now, one of the best kept secrets has been the desirability of downtown Brooklyn and the easy commute to much of downtown and midtown Manhattan. Numerous Japanese artists have known this for years and now young Japanese have discovered this, as well as a few families with children.

For the purpose of this article, we'll dwell on Park Slope, even though the Carroll Gardens and the Cobble Hill areas have a lot to recommend them as well as Brooklyn Heights (strictly for those who have fat wallets).

Park Slope has a distinctly European feel to it. In terms of number of buildings, it is the largest landmark area in the United States. It is serviced by most of the subways, and train time is 10 to 15 minutes to Wall Street, and 20 to 25 minutes to Midtown. Personal safety is high, at least by New York City standards. There are sundry shops and restaurants along Seventh Avenue (very similar to Columbus Avenue on the West Side of Manhattan.) The park has various playgrounds, baseball diamonds and tennis courts and, compared to Central Park, is uncrowded. There are also excellent public schools, as well as many private schools. There are several public golf courses within 20 minutes of Park Slope. Nice studio apartments range from $700 per month to very fancy Brownstone duplex apartments with gardens at $3500 per month. Most Japanese who have visited the Sakura festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden can visualize the area as being the south side of Flatbush Avenue and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as being 200 yards north of Flatbush Avenue. Park Slope runs about twenty blocks along the Park and Slopes down from Prospect Park for five blocks. At various times, Park Slope has been the home of Shirley Maclane, F. Murray Abraham, Joan Sutherland, and other well known playwrights and actors too numerous to mention. There are various young lawyers who own their homes in the "Slope". Recently, several one family houses were sold at prices close to one million dollars. Many recent law school graduates have chosen the area to live, as well as many recent Ivy League graduates. The area has the ambiance of a good sized village. There are a couple of health clubs. The Montauk Club, an elegant club built more than 100 years ago, is available for meetings or quiet dining in their restaurant. That club welcomes new members and would be a wonderful place to entertain visiting business associates. There are private rooms for parties, weddings and other affairs.

PARK SLOPE VERY CHILD FRIENDLY

For the younger generation, there are two convenient playgrounds in the park. The park closes to traffic at most times, and is filled with bicycles, runners and roller bladders. There are many day care centers and numerous private schools. Between Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights there are three or four private schools that rival some of the best private schools in the world. There is a YMCA which has a full sized swimming pool, full basketball court and many other types of equipment. In addition, they have summer camps.

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

Brooklyn Academy of Music has numerous cultural activities including the Cleveland Sympathy and other major orchestras. It also features dance troupes too numerous to mention. Park Slope is the most cosmopolitan area outside of Manhattan. It would not be surprising if someone from every country of the world was represented in Park Slope. Allan Fogelson, who advertises apartments for rent in OCS News on a regular basis, says that calls by Japanese inquiring about the availability of apartments has increased by 400% recently. Moreover, virtually all of the Japanese that have moved there have indicated that they love the area. ADVANTAGES OF PARK SLOPE

Several very good public schools in the area

There is virtually no place as child friendly

Two excellent private schools, namely Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and Berkeley-Carroll Schoo

Many Park Slope residents send their children to Brooklyn Heights Friends Academy

Packer Collegiate Institute and St. Ann's School

Hundreds of day care centers

Many partners of top law firms

Rainbow Room Development

Many young people

Choice of over 70 restaurants

Post Graduate campus to Ivy Leaguers

Prospect Park has ice skating rink, carousel and zoo and for adults there is a tennis bubble for the winter

Currently approaching over 750 Japanese live here

Much more like Greenwich Village was in the 1940s and 1950s than what Greenwich Village is today. People know each other in the way they did in the old Greenwich Village

Little league

YMCA and YWCA

Summer camp

Brooklyn Academy of Music had numerous cultural activities including, the Cleveland Sympathy and other major orchestras. It also features dance troupes too numerous to mention.

Park Slope is the most cosmopolitan area outside of Manhattan. In addition to the small but growing Japanese community, there are Chinese, Koreans, Italians, Irish and Haitians.

Edited and compiled by Allan P. Fogelson.

For more about Park Slope, see: Apartments for Rent in Park Slope, Real Estate in Park Slope , Park Slope Real Estate, and Park Slope Page.

Contact address - please send e-mail to the following address: fogelson@ishipress.com