Baltic House at 360 Baltic Street in Cobble Hill

I can tell you a little something about the neighborhood; I lived there for several years. (now I'm in the city.)

That development is about half a block from Hoyt Street, which is the western boundary of several city blocks' worth of public housing projects.

My roommate and I used to live two blocks from there back in the early 90s. It was really rough back then. You could hear gunfire at the projects on some evenings.

And one of the projects -- the Gowanus Houses -- was notorious. The Times wrote stories about it -- there was a prostitution trade on the roof, and the whole complex was a drug supermarket.

My roomie was mugged at knifepoint on Bond St., which is parallel to Hoyt and one block to the east.

Now that was then, this is now. Things have changed, I know. I no longer live in the neighborhood but I still have friends in Cobble Hill, and they say the projects do seem to have calmed down.

But if I were you, I'd talk to people in the neighborhood -- not just in the building but people who actually live near Hoyt St.

You would have trendy Smith Street on one side of you and rough-edged Hoyt St on the other side, and you'd have to decide if you were comfortable with that.

I don't know how these developers play off the fact that places like this one are so close to the projects. I live 5 or 6 blocks away (Pacific St), and it's a world of a difference. A friend of mine lived on Warren St for ~20 years and told me how bad it used to be (like GG mentioned), and that it's way better now. But, you can't ignore the fact that they are so close.

I live on Warren street now and moved from Lafayette in Fort Greene. I really regret moving so close to the projects. It is manageable but for the price that you pay (money and quality of life) it just isnt worth it. If you want to live near Smith street I wouldn't live on any block east of court. Henry and Clinton are beautiful streets.

I have walked by this development in particular and was disappointed with how ugly the building is.