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What you’ll pay: $499,000
What you’ll get: A two-bedroom condo with new fixtures and a roof deck
Distance to midtown: 30 minutes on the B or Q
Boasting historic homes and a single-train commute to Manhattan, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens is one of the last affordable neighborhoods near Prospect Park. Priced out of Park Slope, scores of new families are moving to this diverse community. “We’re close to everywhere I want to go in Brooklyn,” says Sharan Ali, mom of 11-year-old Jazmin, She and her daughter moved into a newly renovated two-bedroom apartment at the end of 2006. For Ali, who is from Trinidad, the area’s Caribbean lilt was irresistible. “When I saw my block, I saw the island.”
The rectangular neighborhood just off the park runs east from Ocean to New York Avenues and south from Empire Boulevard to Clarkson Avenue. Stock includes both single-family homes and apartments. “A two-bedroom co-op ranges from $299,000 to $450,000, whereas a house can sell for between $649,000 and $1.5 million, depending on the size and location,” says broker Hakim Edwards of Prudential Douglas Elliman. Prices have gone up 8 percent in the last year, though the neighborhood still doesn’t have the same name recognition as nearby Kensington, where Ali initially looked. “I found my apartment by sheer accident,” she says. “It was the last stop of the day, but when I walked in and saw how the light spread across the living room and kitchen, I was convinced.”
Many buyers are interested in Lefferts Manor, a landmarked eight-block district with impressive late-19th- and early-20th-century neo-Federal row homes. New developments include the Lefferts South condos and a Karl Fischer building that boasts snazzy add-ons like roof decks, Jacuzzi tubs and heated floors.
