The first East New York homes are set to break the $1 million dollar threshold, reports Real Estate Weekly (REW).
In August 2016, developer Samuel Eshaghoff purchased two properties at 710 and 714 Wortman Avenue for $450,000. The former vacant sites are now home to two-story, two-family units with basements and a driveway, and their owner is putting a $1 million price tag on them.
A 2017 PropertyShark survey of real estate professionals listed East New York as one of the next "hot" neighborhoods, and Eshaghoff is not the only developer looking to take advantage of the area's many vacant properties. In August, Pennrose Properties filed permits for a nine-story mixed-used development at 50 Pennsylvania Avenue, and Phipps Houses, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, is planning to bring a three-building project with 1,165 affordable units to the neighborhood.
"This area is unique in that there's still a lot of vacant lots," said Eshaghoff. "This pocket is like a blank slate for more developers to come in and really create nice product and housing to improve the quality of the community over there."
Morris Zafirpoor, a Keystone Realty broker covering East New York, thinks that Eshaghoff's new development is still a rare occurrence. According to him, many people are moving into East New York because they get pushed out of pricier nearby neighborhoods.
"The people who used to live in Bed-Stuy or Bushwick, who can't afford those areas anymore, are moving two or three train stops over and getting cheaper apartments in these neighborhoods," said Zafirpoor.
Not only younger people are looking past Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, but also an older generation of Brooklynites who used to live in East New York are impressed by the redevelopment and its affordability, said Zafirpoor. In 2016, the city undertook a major rezoning of East New York to promote more development and affordable housing.
Eshaghoff, however, believes that his developments will encourage other developers to look into East New York. According to Property Shark, the area saw a median sales price of $339,275 in 2016 and a 44 percent increase over the last five years.
"Once people see how wildly successful we will make out, there's going to be a flurry of activity," Eshaghoff said.
