Toren - Neighborhood

Close to Police and Fire Deparment. Professionals living in the area of luxury condos. Metrotech Commons across the sreet. More residential shopping, grocery coming into the area.

Extremely convenient, accessible by the B,M,Q,R to DeKalb Ave or 2,3 to Hoyt St or A,C,F to Jay Street/Borough Hall, Other trains that are walking distance are 4,5 trains in Boro Hall.
Also walking distance to Brooklyn Heights, Vinegar Hills and dumbo.
Walking distance to both Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. Cycling to Manhattan is a breeze.

http://gis.nyc.gov/ops/mmr/findlocation.jsp?street=150+Myrtle+Avenue&borough=Brooklyn&geocodemode=1
for demographics. More corporations and big hotels moving in. New safety crossings on Flashbush Ave.

you should check out 99 Gold in Vinegar Hill. Much better location and conveniently located to all the amenities of DUMBO and the York St F train - http://streeteasy.com/nyc/building/99-gold

you can rent a one bedroom in an upscale building in prime Manhattan. if you dont like the projects close by, the good news is with your budget you dont have to deal with it.

Lived at the Avalon for a couple years. I liked the area, but wished there was a more convenient, close, real grocery store. Otherwise the B,Q is express at Dekalb and the A,C,F is fairly close. Also the 4,5,2,3 at Nevins St. The projects are a complete NON issue at all. Never saw any issue and the police station is right behind Avalon (which is close to Toren). The ethnic makeup in these buildings is pretty darn diverse as well.

End of the day, the only issue is ammenities which I hear are coming. I now live in BK heights because I bought.

> you should check out 99 Gold in Vinegar Hill.

No, avoid... its across from the projects, and next to bodega and other retail and that always look sketchy at night. There is a reason they had a LOT of trouble selling those (check the history).

In terms of Toren, you're talking about being right on Flatbush ave, and sandwiched against the projects. You certainly have some access from there, but the neighborhood itself will be limited by the fact that those projects aren't going anywhere.

I've lived in the area now for 1.5 years, and I have't had any issues with the projects. The area is going through tremendous change - in the last year alone I've seen the opening of Brooklyn Fare, the consolidated subway hub (Metrotech - Jay St.), Aeropostale, Shake Shack, Five Guys, La Defense, Dekalb Market, Sheraton Hotel (and its Aloft partner), and new conveniences - CVS and Big Apple Supermarket, etc,.. New developments are springing up all the time. Absolutely no regrets on buying here.

To be honest, roulette841, I shared your concern about the public housing as well. Before I bought, I spend an hour per night walking around the neighborhood for 2+ weeks and it felt comfortable to me. I've lived in the area for a year now and have no regrets. The AC line is a 7 minute ride to work (from Jay Street to Chambers). The neighborhood has lots of great new additions. A Red Apple Supermarket and CVS opened up a few months ago on the same block as the Toren. A Shake Shack and a Five Guys just opened nearby as well. More is planed/under construction such as City Point's 50,000 sq. ft. of retail space scheduled to open spring of this year.

Roulette841 -- I was actually looking very closely at the Toren and had the same concerns. I found a thread on this website commoncharges.com (link here: http://www.commoncharges.com/topic/23/Considering-Buying-at-Toren) that I thought was really informative. Hope it helps. Good luck!

Does anyone know how close the Toren is to selling out? Thanks!

Toren is getting a grocery store.

Definitely walk around on the south side of metrotech and along fulton st mall....it wasn't for me despite all of the development in the works.

nyc_observer -- You don't think the area will continue to improve? Or just didn't want to wait?

Do you have any further details on the grocery store going in?

nyc_observer -- I agree with you. I was going to put in an offer for the Toren but changed my mind after reviewing the crime statistics in the area which are too high for my comfort.

I love the views in the Toren and Oro, but since the public housing next to the Oro (and close to the Toren) isn't going anywhere it is hard to justify buying a place there.

I was looking at these places and decided not to because the area was so dead at night. Really a wasteland. Yes it will grow and get nicer, but currently is a bit dire. In terms of the projects. My wife and I decided to stroll through early on a Sunday afternoon just to get feel of it. We also got to witness two guys pounding the crap out of each other - again early afternoon. So I am not sure about crime statistics, but that obviously did not fill me with good feelings.

JohnMiller and Ottawanyc, that's really interesting. I haven't really looked at the crime statistics, although I've heard that there is actually very little crime in the area since people can ave their public housing pulled very easily if they get in trouble with the law. That being said, an experience like Ottawanyc's would definitely alarm me.

I wonder how much the new NYU school on Jay Street will affect this area of downtown (I read about it on the site chestercheetah mentioned above, http://commoncharges.com). I would imagine this will have a really nice effect on the Metrotech area and the area surrounding the Belltel and Brooklyner, and maybe it will even spread down to Be@Schermerhorn and the Addison, but I definitely wonder if it will spread across Flatbush to the Toren, Oro and Avalon. Thoughts?

I think the NYU expansion will be a major boon to the city. DUMBO is already a start-up hotbed, and NYU's addition will only help to expand this.

I choose not to buy at Oro and Toren because I felt the prices have already accounted for expectations of major improvements to DoBro. For example I looked at a high floor (Brooklyn view) ~600 sq ft studio at Oro, but they firm on their ask of $823 psf. For that kind of price, one can buy in areas that have already "arrived."

nyc_observer, did you submit an offer? how do you know they are firm? sounds high for those buildings?

Wow, $823 psf is definitely expensive for the area. I agree that prices like that probably limit the upside significantly.

nyc_observer: I agree with you. I saw a 2 br unit in the Oro with great views of the 4 bridges and manhattan -- priced at a firm ask of $840 psf. I cant justify buying it for that price.

Angeloz, because I asked about submitting an offer for ~$600 psf for a high floor apartment, and was told not to bother with that "low-ball." They also raised prices recently.

At Oro you can negotiate. Toren was super ugly. I could not get over how horrendous the design choices were. Seem to recall these terrible kitchen cabinets that were the ugliest thing I had seen.

Should preface that while I did see two guys kick the crap out of each other, the bigger issue is that the area just sucks. If you wanted it for an investment or something it might be ok - yes will hold its value. But terrible. My wife said it reminded her of Buffalo.

I stared a thread on here about DoBro that gets into the area. It was before I went and walked around and night and realized what a huge mistake living there would be.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/30004-is-downtown-brooklyn-crap