Curbed Cup Elite Eight: (3) Downtown Brooklyn vs. (11) Greenpoint

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—and in the Elite Eight round—for a second year running.

A short list includes the debut of Brooklyn’s tallest building, a 55-story rental designed by Dattner; the debut of 33 Bond, an enormous rental with more than 700 apartments; and the historic Offerman Building, which finally unveiled its luxury rentals. (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.

Greenpoint (11)

Across the East River, a once-sleepy immigrant enclave began to sprout more towers along a waterfront that will eventually be covered in skyscrapers. The neighborhood’s tallest tower, The Greenpoint, made significant progress; Halcyon Management recently announced a three-building waterfront development; and the first market-rate rental at Greenpoint Landing topped out.

Max Touhey

With all the new development taking over Greenpoint, it only seemed apt that the neighborhood said goodbye to one of its longstanding (but not-so-loved) icons, the Kosciuszko Bridge. But there were other investments in needed neighborhood amenities: Mayor Bill de Blasio revived a proposal to transform the abandoned Greenpoint Hospital complex into affordable housing, and an eco-friendly revamp and expansion of the neighborhood’s library is currently underway.

In the battle of the Brooklyn neighborhoods, which should advance? Cast your vote now, and may the best neighborhood win!