Curbed Cup 1st Round: (3) Downtown Brooklyn vs. (14) East New York

The Curbed Cup, our annual award for the neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 16 neighborhoods vying for the prestigious (fake) trophy. We’ll reveal each of the neighborhoods this week, and polls will be open for 24 hours so you can cast your vote as to which ones should advance. Let the eliminations commence!

Downtown Brooklyn (3)

There’ve been very few dull moments in Downtown Brooklyn in recent years, and a flurry of activity kept the neighborhood at the top of our bracket for a second year running.

Brooklyn’s tallest building, a 55-story rental designed by Dattner, began renting its 600 market-rate apartments from $2,550/month to as much as $6,000/month for a two-bedroom. It was just one of many rentals that debuted: For example, Ennead’s glass-and-brick building, dubbed The Lane, brought 108 apartments to Boerum Place, while TF Cornerstone’s massive, amenity-stuffed rental, 33 Bond, launched leasing on its 714 apartments. (And there’s way more where those came from.)

Not only has the area gotten a ton of new apartments, the neighborhood’s Fulton Street shopping strip has replaced Williamsburg’s Bedford Avenue as the priciest commercial real estate strip in the borough. Two additions to that strip include a Trader Joe’s and a Target at the long-awaited City Point megaproject.

Meanwhile, the borough’s gatekeeper’s—“Miss Brooklyn” and “Miss Manhattan”—were finally returned, after a 50-year hiatus, to their perches at the Downtown Brooklyn entrance to the Manhattan Bridge.

East New York (14)

East New York has been a neighborhood to watch for years now, but the city’s rezoning in 2016 pushed it to the forefront of the conversation this year. One report even pegged the area as the so-called “hottest” neighborhood of the year, though it remains to be seen how that prediction will bear out.

Courtesy of the Landmarks Preservation Commission

Some of the big changes: A Dattner-designed complex with 403 fully affordable apartments was cleared to replace a block of low-rise manufacturing buildings, and the city and Monadnock Development are working on bringing a 21-building affordable housing complex to the sites at 389-516 Schroeders Avenue, 1111-1123 Ashford Street, and 127-129 Gateway Drive.

The neighborhood also managed to secure protected status for a few of its industrial buildings: The Landmarks Preservation Commission recently voted unanimously to designate the Empire State Dairy Company Buildings, located along Atlantic Avenue and Schenck Avenue, as city landmarks.

So which neighborhood should advance to the next round? Cast your vote below, and may the best neighborhood win.