There is no shortage of things to do and places to go in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Prospect Heights, home to Barclays Center, Grand Army Plaza and the popular Tom's Restaurant.
The neighborhood’s population of about 68,000 residents comprises diverse racial groups.
Prospect Heights is bordered to the north by Fort Greene; Park Slope to the west; and Crown Heights to its east and south. Although the tree-lined neighborhood offers a variety of housing structures and designs, many are brownstone-style residential rowhouses built as early as 1890.
However, some blocks, such as Lincoln and St. Johns Place between Underhill and Washington Avenues, now include larger multi-unit apartment buildings.
According to the NYC.gov, Prospect Heights, is a Brooklyn neighborhood experiencing intense gentrification, including increased rental costs and a rising cost of living, with rental property upkeep on the high end of the city’s average. The median sale price of a home is $1 million, while median rent sits at $4,000, according to StreetEasy as of May 2024.
Vanderbilt and Washington Avenues are two major vehicular and retail corridors central to the neighborhood's vibrancy. Numerous new and old restaurants and shops make this area a very popular weekend hangout. During the warmer months, much of Vanderbilt Avenue is closed off to traffic for the Open Streets program.
Mitchell's Soul Food and Tom's Restaurant are two old-school eateries beloved by residents, but there are plenty of new, hip bars and restaurants now opening in the neighborhood at a rapid clip.
On the south end of the neighborhood is Grand Army Plaza, where a large, popular weekend farmer's market takes up the entire northern entryway of Prospect Park.
Barclays Center, home to the Brooklyn Nets and Liberty basketball teams, sits on the western edge. There was much controversy during the development of the arena in the early 2000s, as the city used eminent domain to take land to allow developers to build over a railway depot.
Just south of the border sits the magnificent Brooklyn Public Library's Central branch, which hosts many events and classes for adults and children all year. Next door to the library is also the Brooklyn Museum.