How many apartments for rent are available in Crown Heights right now?
The northern half of this neighborhood is one of the largest landmarked areas in Brooklyn, which fixes what can be built there. The Crown Heights North Historic District was designated in April 2007, extended as a second district in June 2011 and a third in March 2015, with the first two alone covering more than 1,000 buildings of limestone and brownstone rowhouses. What that means for a search is that most apartments north of Eastern Parkway are floors of nineteenth-century houses rather than units in buildings. Roomster currently lists 41 apartments across the neighborhood.
How much does it cost to rent an apartment in Crown Heights?
Studios are quoted between $2,800 and $3,375, one-bedrooms from $3,322 to $3,789, and two-bedrooms anywhere from $3,725 to $5,529, with the neighborhood average around $4,110. That spread is unusually wide because Crown Heights covers both the expensive Franklin Avenue edge and the far more affordable blocks out toward Ralph Avenue. You can find one-bedrooms under $3,000 a month east of Nostrand Avenue, around Utica Avenue, and on the blocks south of Empire Boulevard, while anything within walking distance of the Brooklyn Museum or the Botanic Garden sets the top of the range.
Why are Crown Heights apartment rents rising so quickly?
The neighborhood average is up about 4.57 percent year over year, which outpaces much of Brooklyn, and the reason is largely geographic. Crown Heights sits immediately east of Prospect Heights and Prospect Park with the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Central Library on its western doorstep, and it has express subway service into Manhattan, so as neighborhoods to its west priced up, demand moved along Eastern Parkway rather than away from it. The practical effect is a steep west-to-east gradient: the Franklin Avenue blocks now price like Prospect Heights, while the eastern half has moved far less. If your budget has been outrun, moving two stations east is more effective than dropping a bedroom.
What does the Crown Heights North landmarking mean for an apartment for rent?
It tells you what kind of apartment you are actually renting. Inside the three designated districts, the housing is overwhelmingly limestone, brownstone and brick rowhouses from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, long since divided into two, three or four floor-through apartments. Landmark rules govern exteriors, so facades and stoops stay consistent while interiors vary enormously between a careful restoration and a rough conversion. Expect high ceilings, deep rooms and original detail, alongside walk-ups with no elevator and heating systems that were designed for a single family. Ask which floor, how the heat is divided and whether the building is owner-occupied before you look at anything else.
Are there apartments for rent near Crown Heights transit and commute routes?
Every apartment in the neighborhood sits near the line running under Eastern Parkway, so the useful question is which service stops where you would live. Nostrand Avenue and Crown Heights-Utica Avenue are express stops served by the 4 and 5, which is why an apartment further east can reach Manhattan faster than one nearer the western edge on the local 2 and 3. Franklin Avenue-Medgar Evers College adds the shuttle down to Prospect Park and the Botanic Garden. For a Manhattan commuter the express stops are the value play in this neighborhood, since rents fall eastward while journey times do not rise proportionally.
Are there cheap apartments for rent east of Utica Avenue?
That is where the neighborhood's genuine value sits, and it is the part of Crown Heights most renters never look at. The blocks running from Utica Avenue out toward Ralph Avenue, still on the same express subway line, price well below the Franklin Avenue end for comparable space, and much of the housing is the same era of rowhouse and small apartment building. What you give up is the short walk to Prospect Park and the museum, and a longer walk from some blocks to a station. What you gain is frequently a full bedroom for the same rent. If you are choosing between a one-bedroom in the west and a two-bedroom in the east at a similar price, the east is usually the better deal.
