I can’t take it anymore!!! The construction in Park Slope is really getting out of control. Development for the better and for gentrification is one thing, but there is a very fine line between that and over development. On Carroll Street (my block) between 4th and 5th Avenue, on my half of the block alone (closer to 4th), there are FIVE construction sites. FIVE!! The banging, jack hammering, yelling, pile driving, traffic, double parked cars, etc. starts early and ends late. Sometimes, they even work on Saturdays (yeah!). There is a dust that floats through the air. Sometimes it’s just dust, sometimes it’s little white flakes of something that I’m sure is not good to breathe in.
The north corner of Carroll Street and 4th Avenue boasts a brand new (and extremely ugly) 9 story skinny building. The condos must be super thin and with no windows on one whole side of the building. Why would you intentionally build something filled with railroad apartments? (BTW – totally ruined the view from my roof, blech) “Luxury condos” is what they say about all these new buildings going up. With this real estate market though, I’m not sure who the hell is going to buy these things. Across the street on the south corner of Carroll and 4th is a 12 story building. This lot has been under construction for about a year, maybe a bit longer. Shut down numerous times, they now finally have a steel structure up. It will be a 12 story “luxury condo” building.
Currently, an old parking lot across the street from me and another a few doors down, are both under construction to become…possibly more condos. Uggh. The building next door to me, which went straight through to Garfield, was torn down last year (ruining my backyard in the process and soon after the whole side of the building — pics on Flickr coming soon) and has yet to be anything more than a huge canyon.
The over development on this block (and in Park Slope in general) has gotten out of hand. Soon, the cute buildings that have sat here for over 100 years will be overtaken with ugly hack construction…I mean “luxury condo” buildings. Not to mention, the overpopulation of this already heavily overpopulated neighborhood. Once these buildings are complete, up to 200 or more apartments will be within this half of a block, you do the math. Lots of people. Gone are the days of knowing everyone on your block.
