Current renters in the historic Cobble Hill Towers along Hicks Street are getting insider prices on the complex's condo conversion: $230,000 for a studio up to $595,000 for a three-bedroom apartment, with the freedom to turn around and sell the units for whatever they want. Sounds like a pretty good deal for the neighborhood, walk-up or not, but the Brooklyn Paper reports that tenants in the landmarked red-brick buildings?an experiment in moderate-income housing built in 1879?are crying foul over a number of concerns.
Some residents say prices are still too high, citing a lack of renovations and other upgrades (there are two market-rate listings online, a $318,750 one-bedroom and a $500,000 two-bedroom, both itty-bitty in size). There are also the usual gentrification fears, with rent-stabilized tenants worried they'll suddenly be overwhelmed by macchiato-sipping graphic designers in Buddy Holly glasses pushing imported strollers while schlepping bags of organic arugula back from Trader Joe's. In other words: They're worried about becoming like the rest of Cobble Hill.
· Faulty towers? Tenants say condo plan at Cobble Hill building is gentrification [BK Paper]
· Cobble Hill Towers [Official Site]
· Historic Cobble Hill Towers Officially Going Condo [Curbed]
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