Sights like gas stations and McDonald’s made any trip down Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue worth forgetting.
But the Fourth has awakened, and it’s fast morphing from an industrial hinterland into a gentrifying — and desirable — residential thoroughfare.
“It was a very commercial corridor,” recalls Brendan Aguayo, senior vice president and managing director of Halstead Property Development Marketing (HPDM), of this four-lane strip located near his childhood home. “Auto-body shops, manufacturing, fast-food places,” he says, lined the avenue that connects sought-after areas, including Boerum Hill, Park Slope and Gowanus, and continues south to Bay Ridge.
Today, a trek from Pacific Street down to 19th Street still shows traces of that gritty past; you pass gas stations, car washes and few trees. But it also reveals much of what’s arrived since: a gaggle of ritzy residential buildings.
For instance, at 150 Fourth Ave. stands Instrata Park Slope — a 12-story brick-and-glass rental, where a one-bedroom with an open kitchen and washer/dryer asks $3,400. Meanwhile, there’s the CetraRuddy-designed 202 Eighth St. rental, near Fourth Avenue, where a one-bedroom apartment with comparable features is listed for $2,807. Tenants can also get these perks at the brick-clad 278 Sixth St. building, where a one-bedroom wants $2,900 per month.
There’s far more to come. Scaffolds surround a number of forthcoming developments up and down the avenue, including at the former Church of the Redeemer, a demolition site near Barclays Center that spies tell The Post will give way to a condominium. Also on the way is the ODA-designed 251 First St. — a 44-unit condo that’s one of nine new area developments HPDM is marketing — where prices begin north of $1 million.
From Pacific Street down some 30 blocks to South Slope, and on the side streets immediately surrounding the avenue, a whopping 26 buildings are now in the development pipeline, according to HPDM tallies, which will flood the area with roughly 1,400 units when completed.
All this activity stems from a trio of rezonings 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.
Landmark Park Slope, $2,933/month: Light-filled one-bedroom. City views, floor-to-ceiling windows and hard-wood floors. Building has roof deck, lounge and fitness center.