First Sign of Creeping Gentrification In Sunset Park's Center?

This new building on the corner of 52nd street and 3rd Avenue may be the first sign of the creeping wave of gentrification that has been moving south from Park Slope in the neighborhood over the last few years. The building nearing construction will either be slated as a rental or perhaps as condos. 3rd Avenue is dotted with lots which are waiting for development and are either on sale or waiting to be bought. The building will probably be high rent compared to other rents in the area or at the very least if condos will help drive market real estate prices up. Only one block from the subway station on 4th avenue it is an ideal location. It is a sign of the ever changing nature of the neighborhood. Chinese families have been buying real estate as far as the blocks between 5th Avenue and 4th Avenues as they run out of available properties closer to 8th Avenue and since they are competing with a wave of hipsters moving into the area the result is inevitably higher rents and higher real estate values...

 

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Store of the Day: Frankel's, serving Sunset Park since 1890

Located on the corner of 40th street and 3rd Avenue Frankel's is probably the oldest business establishment in Sunset Park by far. I can't think of any long time resident in the nabe who isn't familiar with Frankel's and hasn't met it's current owner and family caretaker Marty Frankel. The business was founded in 1890 by Adolph Frankel. It was on the other side of third Avenue but moved to it's current location when the Gowanus Highway was built. The  store is ever changing with the times and fashions. When I first moved into the nabe in 1970 I was into cowboy boots and Frankel's was the only store in Brooklyn at the time that carried them. I still have a pair of lizard skin Dan Post boots that I bought from them. I visit the place often and I suspect that if I live another hundred years the place will still be there. Son Erik Frankel is based in Vietnam these days running factories and computer programming facilities among other things. If you've never been there it's worth the visit. It's like going back in time and you will step into an institution that is almost as old as the neighborhood. When you go there tell Marty I sent you..

The view from another blog: One More Folded Sunset: Frankel's