Brooklyn increases in population, wealth

These days, more than just a tree grows in Brooklyn.

A report from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation indicates that both population and wealth in Brooklyn has increased over the last decade, especially in its brownstone districts: DUMBO and Williamsburg.

There has been an increase of roughly 11,000 people in the brownstone districts of Brooklyn since 2000. The population in all of Brooklyn has increased by roughly 250,000 people since 1990.

Mitchell Moss, NYU Wagner professor of urban policy and planning, attributed the brownstone boom to three things: development of industrial property into residential sites, increased expense in city living and the new popularity of Brooklyn as a hometown.

"It is due to a combination of city decisions and pressures [and] the intrinsic neighborhood feel that Brooklyn gives off as a borough," he said. "Its neighborhoods let people feel a part of something."

Fellow NYU Wagner adjunct assistant professor of planning John Fontillas agreed about Brooklyn's neighborhood feel but said the increase in affluence and population, or bouts of gentrification, are anything but sudden — he dates the start of the boom back to the 1980s. Part of the reason for the increase in income in these areas is the increase in families moving into both DUMBO and Williamsburg. The presence of families and students (the area's two main demographics) has brought an interesting dynamic to the area — students are out at night, blaring music and throwing house parties, while families push strollers in neighborhood parks during the day.

Fontillas said Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Park Slope are popular with NYU students who choose to move across the East River when they are priced out of cheaper apartments in Manhattan.

"There's a different type of NYU student as well. NYU's recent success in drawing students from across the country and around the world means students are more diverse and open to the adventure of urban life," he said. "At the same time, the borough's own demographic changes opened up neighborhoods for new cultural and ethnic settlements."

The neighborhoods slowly being populated by families and young professionals are home to many NYU students who commute by subway to and from campus. CAS junior Ilene Palacios commutes, and she loves the restaurants around her apartment and its proximity to the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

"Even since I first came to visit out here a few years ago it's changed; there are more fancy high-rises on the waterfront where there used to be just empty space and warehouses, and they've even redone Kent Avenue to be more traffic and bike-friendly," she said. "I haven't lived in Brooklyn long so I think I'm a part of that gentrification process too."